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I have really enjoyed watching all the webinars and trying out some of the online teaching tools (soooooo many!!). I now feel much more equipped to create engaging and interactive learning experiences for my students and it has encouraged me to reflect more on my own teaching practice and think more creatively about lesson planning.

One tool that I really liked the look of was https://readlang.com/  and I tested it out in Italian for myself as a learner. It’s really cool that when you don’t know a word, you can  click on it and get not only a translation, but also an explanation and a context-based meaning. I found the site really user-friendly and great for all levels.

I am looking forward to applying what I have learned and will continue exploring new tools and approaches that will, I’m sure, benefit my learners in the future.

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Looking back, my English teaching lacked the methodological organization I now realize is essential. CELTA and TLO courses have been an eye-opener where I have been able to identify exactly what I was missing and update my practice to meet modern standards. The digital tools introduced in Angelos' classes were a true revelation, and I fully intend to implement them in my future lessons.

I was also impressed by how the instructors in most of the videos used ordinary digital whiteboards & chatrooms and yet made their lessons quite interesting. I now feel equipped to integrate tools like Zoom, Google Meet, Padlet, and various interactive websites to create engaging online lessons to the learners. While I still have much to learn, I am confident that I am now on the right path in the ELT sector.

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I am so greatful that I could access such an informative course regarding teaching English online, where I got to know not only a whole list of handy teaching tools (most of them are free!) but more importantly why and how these tools could be employed to serve a specific pedagogical purpose.

For instance, Angelos mentioned that the fact that one's work is to be read by others would lead the language learner to polish their language in the to-be-posted work, which naturally contributes to their progress in writing. Therefore, an online platform where peer learners share their works anonymously would play a role in this process. (e.g., www.peergrade.io) Examples like this really gave me insights into how technology should be used to serve pedagogical purposes, which are of course based on the findings of pedagogical research.

Another point I would like to make is that I realized the importance of rescources that help develop the autonomy of leaners, especially thoses at the C1 or C2 level (including myself!), who might want to take more control of their own learning and are thus more difficult to 'manage' in a traditional lesson. A good example would be www.hemingwayapp.com, which provide detailed review of one's work, making it convenient for advanced learners to develop their writing skills independently.

I will definitely go back and check those units and videos again in the near and far future, as I am sure I will always gain new insights into how a specific language could be taught in an interactive way.

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I am glad I took the CELTA online pre-course. I am especially appreciative of the detailed information that was the entirety of this course. I have never taught online before, so many of the things that would "make or break" the online learning environment I was yet to think of from the perspective of an educator. When it comes to engaging students online and creating an uplifting, interactive space for students I will be taking a lot from what I learned in the pre-course. Not only do I feel ready to move on to the next step of my CELTA journey, I feel more mentally prepared for what the experience is for an online teacher.

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The TLO course showed me many tools and applications that can be used in a wide variety of ways for online teaching. Prior to the course, I had no idea the scope of the devices available to teachers to enhance and aid their lessons. I definitely had moments were I was reflecting in real time on tools used by my former teachers and how/whether I enjoyed them at the time. I think it's really cool to see how online teaching has evolved in the last couple years and the many applications available to support online teaching now is astounding. I look forward to exploring these features more and implementing them into my own classroom. I would highly recommend any teacher, regardless of online vs in person teaching, to do this course and learn about all the ways you can improve your classroom. Additionally, it was interesting to watch videos of other teachers and how they conducted themselves during class. Finally, I'm keen to see what the future holds for the continual evolution of these online tools and the landscape of online teaching.

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After watching the webinars I realized how important it is to guide learners through different reading strategies such as skimming, scanning, reading for gist, and summarizing. These strategies help students focus on understanding the general meaning of a text instead of getting stuck on every unknown word.

One idea that caught my attention was encouraging translation, using tools like readiang.com. I think this could be useful, especially for lower levels, because students can connect new vocabulary with their first language and feel more confident when reading but also, complementing it with EasyPrompter, because it allows teachers to share a text that moves at a certain speed. This could help students focus on understanding the main idea instead of translating every word, making reading more dynamic but keeping the encouraging of translation present as a summary of unknown words, like a vocabulary bank.

Another tool I would like to explore is Text Adventures, where students choose what happens next in the story. I think this could make reading more interactive and engaging, since learners become part of the story and have to read carefully to decide how the story continues.

Overall, these tools seem like good ways to make reading activities more interactive and less intimidating for learners, while also helping them develop important comprehension skills.

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As someone who is transitioning careers and new to teaching, I really enjoyed the webinars and learning about the art of teaching online. Some of the resources that were highlighted throughout this course are so clever and creative! It inspires me to continue to think creatively and to strive for a high level of student engagement with a foundation of clarity and ease for the learners. I am interested to further explore how online apps and websites have (or will) adapt with AI to aid in creative lesson planning.

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This additional course has introduced me to an array of tools that will make for a more engaging and varied lesson, whether it’s conducted online or in person. They actually made me reminisce about my own time as an English learner and how vastly different my experience learning English was at school in comparison to my language school. At school, English lessons were boring and very cut and dry, unlike at my language school, where our teachers would do their best to provide us with various means of learning to keep lessons fresh and interesting. While I’ll need more time to explore all these tools that were introduced to us, from the little I did, I know that it’ll be a joy working with them in the future.

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I’m really happy I took this course. It has given me so many ideas and tools that I can use both in my classroom and online. In my face-to-face lessons with primary school kids, I already use Wordwall to create games and YouTube for songs and videos to practice listening. Group work is always a hit with the kids, and the course gave me ideas to make it even more interactive.

For my online lessons, the course has been especially useful. Speaking is the main focus for my online students, and now I have lots of tools to encourage them. I’m excited to try Vocaroo and VoiceThread for recording short audios, as well as picture-based storytelling and Google Earth explorations to make speaking activities more fun and creative.

I also learned a lot about creating a positive online learning environment. Things like helping students set up their space, use their camera and microphone properly, and understand how breakout rooms work might seem small, but they make a huge difference. I now see how important it is to plan lessons carefully, scaffold activities, and give students time to process and speak, especially in grammar lessons where it’s easy to fall into just explaining rules.

Another thing I really liked was all the ideas for different levels: from beginners to advanced learners. I found the suggestions for project-based activities, storytelling, and interactive writing really inspiring. Even for my younger students, I can adapt some of these ideas to make lessons more engaging and personal.

I’m already looking forward to trying the various tools with my students.

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I'm glad that I took this course as I learned a variety of tools I could use to teach online. I have not taught online, but I have taken online classes and I know they can be a bit overwhelming since it can be hard for teachers to fully engage with students. So learning about all these different tools and ways to engage with the classroom makes me feel less nervous about starting the CELTA course.

One of the tools that stood out to me the most were "News in Levels" and "Telescopic Text." I believe that the reason they stood out to me the most, it's because it allows for vocabulary comparison and it's also adaptable to different levels of English.

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This video was incredibly resourceful and I think that I just fell in love with PenPal Schools! The site is so vivid and colorful, with great design and is also user-frendly. I was really tempted to register as both teacher and student, when the avatar options popped up!

This digital environment is a reflection of one of my most treasured student`s memories of writing letters to other English learners around the world. It triggered my nostalgia and most certainly will be included in my teaching experience.

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I am very happy that I decided to do this course, I got so excited with all the tools and applications that I can use in my class, even though I have taught online in the past, there are some excellent tools that I hadn't used before- I have made a short list with a description beneath.

Voice thread- A platform for collaborative multi media presentations that can be used asynchronously and for flipping the learning at older levels.

Jigsawplanet : I also really liked the warm up activity with the jigsaw that in the A1- A2 video was used for giving directions and think that it could be adapted for other levels by asking students to predict the rest of the image/imagine what happened just before and/or immediately after/use modals to say where the picture is/must be/might/could be, etc.

Plot- generator:  - very engaging- really funny, slightly non sensical, short story website (Lester Bogg) where a story is created after a very clear and explicit process of filling in information about plot and characters . Structure and style are well done for such a generic tool, so the end story sounds natural even if quite absurd. Fun and easy to use, ideal for group work and has potential for correcting/changing the strange story, presenting the story, selling the story in a role play to the group, etc. For younger groups, you could work on story bits in class, input their answers yourself and make a story to read together.

I also looked at Kialo compared to Voice thread for similar activities and although Kialo can host debates in real time, you can use breakout rooms and main room in Zoom for that, so I don’t think I will be using it.

I also want to mention the PechaKucha presentation style that I wasn’t familiar with and think that with some scaffolding or gradual reduction of presenting time and increase of pictures this might be an interesting tool to help with concise, clear presentations for older learners.

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Reflections on the Teaching Languages Online Course 

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Reflections on the Teaching Languages Online Course 

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During the precourse preparation, I quickly realized that online teaching requires a more deliberate and structured approach than face-to-face lessons.The videos helped me understand how receptive and productive skills can still be taught communicatively in an online environment, provided that tasks are clearly staged and instructions are carefully managed. I was especially interested in the range of digital tools and platforms suggested, as this was an area I was not very familiar with before starting the course.

At the same time, the preparation made me aware that effective online teaching involves more than simply transferring traditional classroom activities to a virtual space. Issues such as learner engagement, monitoring and giving feedback appear to require more planning and conscious teacher decisions online. Although the number of applications introduced initially felt overwhelming, it was useful to see practical examples of how they could support interaction, collaboration and skills practice.Two applications that particularly intrigued me were Breaking News English, due to its use of authentic materials and the way it presents the same topic across different proficiency levels, and Flipgrid, which offers opportunities for learners to participate in discussions or debates on more abstract topics in an engaging and interactive way.

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I found this course to be extremely helpful with the amount of resources available is truly incredible. I never knew of there to be so many different online tools we can use. I will have to admit, at first it was a little overwhelming the amount of resources, but I am reminding myself I do not need to explore them allll right away. Yet it will be very beneficial to when I start learning to teach and have lessons in the future to be able to use the resources.

1. I personally have no experience teaching online or face-to -face, but as a learner who has experience with both, I feel it would be more difficult to teach reading and writing online. When it comes to online you can't be as able to monitor everyone's work as you would be in a face to face class. I also feel that because of the lack of physical presence it can the teacher must make sure the classroom is very engaging and interactive.

2. There were an abundance of different tools available, but the one that I so far have found to like the most is newsinlevels.com. I like that there are different levels and activities for each level of learner. There is also a grammar section so you can teach grammar as a part of your lesson. And this website can help with reading and listening. You could also incorporate some post questions too for a speaking exercise.

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I must say that I have found the webinars incredibly insightful and informative, not only as a teacher but also as a student. There is such a wide range of unused material and media that could utterly change the way we view and experience education! It is quite a pity that a more obsolete way of teaching and learning has dominated in the educational system, however seeing that many inspired teachers in this course has made me feel extremely optimistic for the future of learning, which is so much more than simply transfering information.

Given the opportunity to be exposed in such a rich variety of resources, I have highlighted a couple of tools that I look forward to adding in my teaching tool-set. The first tool I would like to refer to is newsela.com. Newsela provides students with the ability to read a variety of stories, which can be adapted into their level of language. I really appreciate this feature, as it makes it possible to focus on the same materials during class by assigning the students the same text, yet adjusting it according to the learners capabilities.

Also, I love activities that engage the students' creativity and encourages them to enhance their ability to build unique storylines. For this reason, the tool that stood out to me as well is foldpass.com mainly because it adds an element of fun to writing activities. Each student writes a line without being able to see the previous student's work. When this task is complete, everyone's work is being revealed. Then, the students collectively try to build a singular story by combining everyones ideas.

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First thought that comes up is that the Teaching Languages Online Course is full of inspiration! As someone with little to no experience in teaching English (online or in person), I have to admit this course at times made me feel overwhelmed, perhaps mainly due to the volume of different tools, activities, and ideas shared, but possibly also because I feel the need for learning about some basic methodology as well. Then I remember we have been reassured many times that just because all these tools are available does not mean we need to know and use all of them, of course. This means we have been provided with so many exciting options to spice up our online lessons, and we can reach for some of these when we feel like experimenting, which is fantastic!

This unit, on digital tools for reading and writing, was very informative about teaching reading and writing in general, highlighting common reading and writing tasks for each level. It also got me excited to explore some tools such as Free Newspaper Generator, Rewordify, Telescopictext, Lingro, and Readable. Lastly, I think the tools offering texts, stories or news for different levels are especially helpful and useful for planning lessons, at least for an inexperienced teacher!

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Taking part in the Teaching Languages Online course has been both practical and eye-opening. It gave me the chance to experiment with digital tools and reflect on how online learning is not just about transferring face-to-face lessons onto a screen, but about rethinking how interaction and engagement can happen virtually.

One of the main takeaways for me is the importance of variety and balance: using breakout rooms, whiteboards, collaborative documents, and video tools strategically can keep learners engaged and active, while also supporting different learning styles. I also realised how crucial it is to anticipate technical issues and have backup plans, since technology can be unpredictable.

At the same time, the course highlighted challenges such as maintaining learner motivation, ensuring equal participation, and adapting materials for online delivery. However, these challenges also present opportunities: they push us to become more creative, flexible, and intentional in our teaching.

Overall, this course has helped me feel more confident about designing and delivering online lessons. I now see online teaching not as a limitation, but as an opportunity to extend the classroom, connect learners in new ways, and explore tools that actually enhance language learning.

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The webinars were very informative. I was actually very surprised by the fact that there is a plethora of different tools, with which teachers can support their online lessons. That means that there is an inclusivity on the different needs of both teachers and learners. And as Angelos said, we don't have to use all of these digital tools- we can just use that one tool that best fits our class and its needs.

One of the tools that actually impressed me and I would definitely explore more is readlang.com. Readlang.com is an interactive website with a big variety of topics and texts, which students of all levels can read. What is very impressive about it, is that it instantly translates the words you press on, in both the language you've selected and the language that the text is in (it sort of explains its meaning). When you are done reading, it automatically generates flashcards with the words you did not know from the text. I believe that this is an excellent website, as students can find it entertaining, they can learn a word's meaning while reading on the spot, and it facilitates revision with the flashcards. Using readlang.com, a teacher has the option to make the lesson as interactive as they can, by letting the students go through a text together, make notes, write a summary about it, and at the end play a game with the flashcards.

Another tool that also caught my eye is mystorybook.com. This website is suitable for younger students of A1-A2 levels, but I really believe that adult learners of the same levels would actually enjoy using it. Basically, in mystorybook.com, students can write their own story from scratch and add their own characters, colours, images, text, etc. Giving the students the chance to create their story, the lesson becomes quite personalized and interactive, but at the same time students boost their creativity and get better and better on producing written language.

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As an English teacher whose methodology is solely based on having in-person classes, going through these videos has helped immensely. As a software engineer with a thirst for technical knowledge, I incorporate online learning tools for my little students, who are not new to the world of technology nowadays. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the webinars, which expanded my knowledge of several online apps and websites that encourage collaborative learning.

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I am very interested in EasyPrompter and ReWordify. Managing student activities and focus is always a challenge, and particularly so in online classes, as you have no control over the students’ immediate physical surroundings. It can thus be hard to manage how students read in reading tasks. The EasyPrompter seems like a great tool to help pace students in their reading and encourage them to read quickly when necessary and give them time to read when they are reading for detail. I am excited to try this out in my classrooms and develop guidelines of how fast to push the text for different types of skills tasks. ReWordify seems like an invaluable tool to help open up texts at any level. If I find a text that will be useful, but I need to make it a lower level, ReWordify will be helpful. Or if we are working on making our language more complicated in the class, ReWordify can be used to help students identify how we transform the English language to be a bit more sophisticated and activities can be based around how ReWordify changes the text. I also really like the idea of encouraging more advanced learners to choose their own texts and have them deliver oral presentations or write short reports based on the texts they have chosen. This gives students freedom and autonomy and allows them to bring their interests into the classroom. The idea of “Story Wars” is interesting too! It would be a fun project to have the entire class have a portfolio of writing by the end of the semester, having all students participate and decide which student’s writing becomes part of the story in the end. All of these tools will be very valuable, in both online and in person teaching.

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The webinars proved to be very informative and useful. The digital tools and ideas presented by Angelos serve to be very useful. I think online learning has it's own set of challenges but if teachers uses the variety of tools available wisely, they can guide the students to the right path of learning.

I have taught online and Face-to-face, it is necessary to be aware of what different tools are available online. I think the challenges occur for younger learners and learners who are not familiar with technology. Digital tools can certainly help lessons become more interactive. If students can be made aware and well acquainted with the tools. They can benefit from it vastly.

The webinars mentioned different grade levels, I think this is where the challenge lies for the teachers. We have to adapt and prepare the lessons accordingly to our learners' level and needs. The main focus was reading and writing in the webinars and various activity ideas for each level was very useful. I discovered different kinds of digital tools that I will be using for my own lessons in the future.

Online learning has taught me several useful skills. It has taught me time management, adapting teaching materials to my learners' needs, and exploring for teaching materials. Even as a student, I was able to familiarize myself with technology even better when the face-to-face learning shifted to online learning. I included more interactive activities and created teaching materials that went beyond the classrooms. Students were able to learn outside of the classrooms as well.

I used platforms like Nearpod and Edmodo for my students. I would create revision and take home tasks for them there so they got additional practice outside of the classroom. Other digital tools like Padlet allowed me to ask my students to share their ideas and have discussions.

I have done reading lessons using Padlet as each group got a section of the reading text which they later briefly explained for the other groups to see. Overall, online learning has allowed us to reach our students outside of the classrooms and with the right help they can further expand their knowledge.

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Our school is mostly book-based and focuses more on speaking so yes we overlook writing in most times. I myself want to be a writer in the future so these tools would help a lot. I think readable and Hemingwayapp would be useful in correcting mistakes if one is not confident enough. I will explore these tools more and come back here for for comments :)

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Although I've been teaching online for years now and have used a host of online tools in my lessons, this video still gave me some fresh ideas and introduced a few tools I hadn’t tried before, and I’m looking forward to using them with my students.

News in Levels will be the first resource I’ll put my hands on.

I’ve always wanted to discuss real news with my students, but it was hard to find texts simple enough for A1–A2 learners. Most articles were too difficult, even if the topic was interesting. News in Levels gives the same news story in three levels, with audio, so even lower-level students can understand the main idea.

Another tool I’m going to use is Readlang. My students will upload the book we’re reading in class and click on words they don’t know to see the translation right away. It saves the words, so they can review and learn them later. It makes individual reading more interactive and helps them build vocabulary without losing track of the story. Sometimes students lose motivation when they have to stop and search for words all the time, so I think Readlang can really help keep them more engaged. I haven’t used it much yet, but I’m definitely going to try it more often.

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The webinars made me reflect on the state of teaching today. Specifically, I thought about the demand for online learning versus traditional lessons in the classroom. For me, learning always came easier when I am in-person and in a classroom with classmates and a teacher. When I was in college, COVID closed universities all over the world and the switch to online learning began. I found online learning far more difficult and I did not learn nearly as well during this process. During the webinars, I thought about the specific challenge of being able to captivate the student's interest and get the students engaged in the material I will be teaching. I believed it was more of a challenge to learn so, similarly, it will be a great challenge as a teacher.

Nevertheless, the webinars provided great tools and techniques for teaching online. One area that stood out to me was the topic of translation and encouraging translation. As a learner of a new language and a learner of how to teach, I have always questioned how to find a balance between translating unknown words and phrases and not getting bogged down by constantly translating and spending a lot of time in the dictionary. I thought Angelos' discussion of this helped me to understand when translation is appropriate and how to effectively translate new words.

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Angelos obviously has a great love for finding and using online tools to make his lessons more interactive and learning more fun. For a teacher that has only taught face-to-face with a class, learning to teach online has been overwhelming. However, I have found these webinars extremely informative and am beginning to feel more confident in navigating online teaching. What I love about these apps is that they can be used for more than just one topic, but can often incorporate reading, writing, listening and speaking in one activity. Angelos has many ideas on how to make a tool even more useful than its intended purpose, showing creativity and experience in teaching online. I look forward to exploring the apps he has suggested and using them in my future teaching experiences online.

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Throughout these videos, I took a lot of notes and bookmarked several of the websites, so that I would have them easily accessible in the future. Angelos’ collection and the ideas that he outlined for them was truly helpful, especially as I am coming from an experience where the school greatly encouraged sticking with the coursebook. While there’s always some nervousness when it comes to generating material in part or full, having all of these options, and time to develop skill with them, will make it much less stressful.

While I had some experience in gathering resources, I had never used a website that already levels their content. That will be a time saver, since I won’t feel the need to search out nearly as many stories, and vet them all myself.

Overall, having all of these links and tips has done a lot to build confidence before the upcoming CELTA course, not to mention continuing to teach learners of all age groups and skill levels. I greatly appreciated that there were specific comments regarding how some might be better suited to certain kinds of students, and I can imagine that these resources are ones that I will be returning to frequently throughout my career.

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The resources shared in the video were truly inspiring, and although I don’t have experience teaching English online or face to face, I can see how the shift from traditional classroom instruction to virtual learning is a major transformation.

One of the biggest advantages of online teaching is the ability to reach learners from different locations, making education more accessible and flexible. Without the limitations of travel or strict schedules, students can engage with lessons in a way that fits their individual needs.

Technology also plays a crucial role in enhancing learning. Interactive tools like language apps, video platforms, and virtual whiteboards create more dynamic lessons and offer students new ways to develop their language skills. These tools can make lessons more engaging and interactive, helping students practice listening, speaking, and collaboration in real-time.

Another important aspect of online teaching is the level of independence it encourages. Without the constant presence of a teacher in a physical classroom, students often take more responsibility for their learning, which helps them develop self-discipline and self-directed study habits.

Of course, online teaching also comes with challenges. Keeping students engaged can be more difficult when they are learning remotely, and not all students have the same level of comfort with technology. The lack of face-to-face interaction can also make communication and motivation more challenging.

Despite these obstacles, the transition to online education is a valuable opportunity. It requires teachers to rethink and adapt their approaches.

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Dimitri Psemmas - Reflection on Digital Tools for Reading and Writing

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Dimitri Psemmas - Reflection on Digital Tools for Reading and Writing

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I would like to start by thanking Angelos for handpicking all these tools and presenting them in a thorough and well-rounded fashion. Understandably, some of the apps and sites included in the videos no longer exist (like Story Wars) or have been replaced (like Go Pangea, which replaced PenPalls). Of course, a quick web search will provide a multitude of alternatives and new education tools from which an online teacher can benefit.

One of the tools oriented for reading practice that I was immediately impressed by is the “easyprompter”. As Angelos pointed out, the fact that a student is presented with a chunk of scrolling text helps with focusing on reading and not getting stuck on all the unknowns a learner immediately tries to identify. The prompter is, in essence, removing these blocks. Since its features are also adjustable, it can become a valuable, versatile tool for teachers of all levels.

The Zoom shared whiteboard and the chat function are, in themselves, extremely useful, providing the teacher with endless writing opportunities, either individually or collaboratively. One example would be to provide visuals that will prompt the students to write a sentence or a small paragraph and then join them to end up with a final piece. Moderated blogging tools (like edublogs) can be used as class portfolios that the students can work on, even as a side project for an extended period.

Finally, as stressed by Angelos, most, if not all, of these tools can be graded and adapted not only for different levels but also for all the language skills and systems that a teacher might want to work on with the learners. The mind boggles at the possibilities.

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I was impressed that we have an ocean of tools which can cater different tastes and needs. The lessons can be inspiring and cheerful for the learners.

Learners are provided with variety of tools- like peergrade or penpalsschools-which connects them to other learners around the world and allows them to correct each other.

Tools that grade the texts or summarise them saves time and energy for both the learners and tutors.

Making stories and newspapers are other tools which motivate the learners to use what they have learnt and show off about it.

One more thing I noticed was translation as helpful tool. My experience as a learner instilled the idea in my mind that translation is taboo and could be reprimanded by teachers.

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I was impressed that we have an ocean of tools which can cater different tastes and needs. The lessons can be inspiring and cheerful for the learners.

Learners are provided with variety of tools- like peergrade or penpalsschools-which connects them to other learners around the world and allows them to correct each other.

Tools that grade the texts or summarise them saves time and energy for both the learners and tutors.

Making stories and newspapers are other tools which motivate the learners to use what they have learnt and show off about it.

One more thing I noticed was translation as helpful tool. My experience as a learner instilled the idea in my mind that translation is taboo and could be reprimanded by teachers.

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When I look back, the way we learnt reading and writing was limited to a couple of books and the sessions were normally monotonous.

Now, I look into my teaching toolbox and I see loads of tools for different levels.

These tools transfer the reading/writing class into a cheerful and entertaining session. They can create their own stories together and show off their abilities to other learners. They can be more independent in their learning journey. Tools like "penpalsschools" and "peergrade" connect them to other learners beyond the walls of their classrooms. Like a vibrant, bright little fish, they leave the marsh behind and find their ways to the vast ocean.

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Someone wrote that the pandemic completely changed their relationship with technology. I wholeheartedly agree with their words. I never imagined I would take an online course or even teach English online. Yet here I am, nearing the end of this wonderful and enriching journey, where new doors of knowledge have opened for me. Both the TLO course and the Teaching Practices have taught me that there is always more to learn than what we already know, and a whole world to explore. They have completely revolutionized my teaching method. All the tools and information Angelo mentions in the videos are extremely useful. I looked some of them on internet and many seem to be pretty interesting, even though so far I have only used breakout rooms and Microsoft PowerPoint and seen Google Drive being used by my colleagues. Etherpad, VoiceThread, and other interactive websites, are new instruments for me that I will fully utilize, as teaching online will be one of the goals I will pursue after finishing this course. I will definitely try Etherpad for interactive writing, which will greatly facilitate the lesson's objective, since writing and reading are always more challenging online than in face-to-face settings. VoiceThread seems very suitable for working with young children who are approaching online learning and who are more difficult to keep engaged during the lesson. I really liked the division by levels related to online teaching, which is very useful and full of ideas and resources to use in our work. I am very grateful for this because it gives me hope and optimism that I will be able to do well in online teaching from now on.

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Hello!

The webinars will prove to be an amazing resource for me in future. Being a teacher , I feel I really needed to know about the latest tools that facilitate both online and face to face learning.

The webinars have shed light on both pros and cons of the tools which will make the selection easier for anyone interested in using them.

I particularly liked the segregation of the tools done according to the learners abilities.

I really liked dreamnet, scibble and hemingway.

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Reflection on teaching reading and writing online 

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Reflection on teaching reading and writing online 

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After watching the video about writing and reading tools for teaching online, I gained a deeper understanding of how these tools can significantly enhance both the teaching and learning experience in a digital classroom. The video highlighted several tools that not only streamline the administrative side of teaching but also foster engagement, collaboration, and individualized learning.

One of the most striking points was how these tools can make teaching more interactive. For example, using digital whiteboards, collaborative documents, and annotation tools allows students to actively participate in discussions and writing exercises. These tools help create a more dynamic classroom environment, even in an online setting. I was particularly drawn to the idea of using real-time feedback tools, such as comment sections or peer review platforms, to encourage students to interact with each other’s writing. This fosters a sense of community and shared learning, which is often a challenge in online environments.

Another aspect of the video that resonated with me was how reading and writing tools help address the diverse needs of students. For instance, tools that assist with text-to-speech or translations can make learning more accessible to students with different learning styles or language barriers. I hadn’t fully realized how these tools could level the playing field and give all students the opportunity to engage with course material in a way that works best for them.

The video also explored the importance of formative assessments in an online setting. Tools like quizzes, polls, and short reflection prompts can be integrated into readings and writing assignments to assess students’ understanding in real-time. This allows teachers to adjust their approach quickly, ensuring that no one is left behind.

I was reminded of the importance of balance—while these tools offer many benefits, it’s essential to use them thoughtfully so they don’t overwhelm students or reduce face-to-face interaction. I now see the importance of thoughtfully integrating technology into lessons so that it enhances learning without overshadowing the core educational experience.

Overall, the video reinforced the idea that, as educators, we need to continually evolve our teaching strategies to embrace new technologies. These tools not only support students’ literacy skills but also enable teachers to build a more interactive, inclusive, and engaging online classroom. This reflection has motivated me to explore more of these tools to make my own teaching practice more effective and accessible.

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The opportunities for learning are endless! There are so many online tools and more being developed as we speak. Regarding the reading and writing tools presented, I’ll touch on a few I’m particularly impressed by:

For beginners’ level, I like the idea of breakout room groups comparing answers and working off of each other e.g. read → discuss → swap, read, confirm OR read → interview → write → swap, read, confirm OR read → create T/F tasks → swap texts and tasks → perform text and peer correct. In my experience, many learners in Taiwan can be a bit shy and asking them to correct each other takes away the anxiety of being corrected by me, the teacher.

For intermediate learners, I think translation is a good avenue for learning. Now that they are past beginner’s level, they have more advanced vocabulary and grammar to try to express ideas that they would have in the L1 language. The Readlang website seems useful for that. As their English level progresses, eventually translating basic phrases would become so automatic that they no longer need to really think about it (and therefore translate in their mind) at all.

For advanced learners, getting a penpal seems like such a fun way to engage in language learning and I can see 6-week projects and reflection as an effective unit in a course. This also encourages cross-cultural interactions, which I think is a crucial reason for learning English in the first place.

One potential avenue that was not really addressed in the seminars were tools and apps on the smartphone - which there are many. I think this would be very practical for Gen Z and Gen Alpha learners especially, as everyone is glued to their phones these days.

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Hey everyone, I have to admit, the shift to online teaching has been a bit of a learning curve for me, as I’ve always felt more comfortable in a face-to-face setting. But lately, I've been watching some really informative webinars by Angelo, and he’s opened my eyes to a bunch of adaptable websites that could really change how I teach online (and even offline!). He highlighted resources for developing speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills, and they seem like they’d work well with both adults and secondary students, which is great! I'm also really excited about the project potential.

So, after doing some digging, here are my initial thoughts on a few of the resources that stood out:

•  dictation.io: This one is just so simple – a free speech-to-text tool! I can immediately see how helpful it could be for students who struggle with handwriting. It’s a super accessible option.

•  breakingnewsenglish.com: I've actually used this one before and know it's a fantastic resource. The way they level their articles makes it so easy to differentiate and adapt materials to different learner levels.

•  jigsawplanet.com: This one looks like it could be a lot of fun! It’s totally customizable so I can use it to review vocabulary, grammar, or introduce new topics. It seems like a great way to shake things up.

•  mindmup.peergrade.io: This mind-mapping tool looks really interesting and powerful, especially the way it integrates peer feedback. It’s something I’m keen to explore further.

I’ve also been putting together a table of these resources and others I've found, with a focus on lesson planning tools. I'm feeling much more confident about incorporating these new tools into my classes now, and I can’t wait to try them out!

What are your experiences with these or similar resources? I’m really keen to hear what you all think and any other recommendations you might have!

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One of my concerns regarding the online teaching has always been the lack of knowledge about how the activities that are easily organized in an on-site environment could be handled online.

I am pleasantly surprised by the variety of tools that have been developed to support online teaching. While I do not have any online teaching experience and cannot judge about the efficiency of these tools, it is great to know that there are so many of them to try.

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First of all, I am so impressed by all these resources shared by the video. To be honest, I do not have any teaching online experience. But switching from classroom English teaching to online English teaching is significant for several reasons:

1. Accessibility and flexibility

Online teaching allows learners from diverse geographical locations to access quality education, breaking down barriers like travel or time constraints. Learners can now engage with lessons at their own pace, making education more flexible and personalized.

2. Technological integration

The shift to online learning fosters the use of innovative tools that enhance interactivity, such as language apps, video platforms, and virtual whiteboards. These tools provide varied learning experiences, improving skills like listening, speaking, and real-time collaboration.

3. More learner autonomy

In online settings, learners often take more responsibility for their own progress. This shift encourages self-directed learning, a valuable skill in mastering a language.

However, online teaching may pose challenges, such as maintaining student engagement, managing diverse technological proficiency levels, and overcoming the lack of immediate in-person interaction, which can affect communication and motivation.

This shift has been transformative, with online learning offering increased flexibility, though it requires teachers to adapt their methodologies to keep the learning process dynamic and interactive.

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Giulia´s reflection task on teaching and writing on-line

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Giulia´s reflection task on teaching and writing on-line

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I have to preface by saying that these webinars have been a much-appreciated source of knowledge.

My understanding of the topic was widely expanded, so much so that - being an absolutely inexperienced newbie to teaching English as I am - I will definitely need some time to properly digest all of its content and put it to practice.

All in all, though, I must say I am honestly intimidated by the prospect of teaching online since tech is not necessarily my favorite tool in general when it comes to communication, but I can also see how it could help shy students to come forth and expose themselves a little more than they would in a standard lesson, increasing participation and -perhaps mostly in adolescent students - increase their interest in the matter altogether because of the media it is taught through. I am also pretty sure that the ideas at the core of the tools given, once properly explored and familiarized with, can be declined in face-to-face versions of the classes as well, making the ideas and tools presented even more versatile for the teacher's use.

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Hi all!

All these tools are quite the discovery for me as I don't have any experience using them.I think that both online and face-to face teaching has its challenges.

1.Some of the online teaching difficulties would be technolology related. Also there might be more distructions during lessons as every single one of the participants would be in a different environment. However ,online teaching offers more flexibility than face-to-face.

One of the face-to face teaching difficulties I can think of is the need to a direct approach and remedy of unexpected issues that the teacher could be facing.

The vast variety of the online tools presented can only make one feel excited to choose from and put into use in class.

I don't have any teacing experience myself but I'm very excited to explore them further.

2. One of the online tools that I'd use is the textadventures.co.uk . I found myself to be wanting to use it as soon as Angelo's presentation was done as I feel that it'd be a very creative and engaging tool for the students and myself as a teacher.

Many thanks to Angelo's! I really enjoyed the webinars

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Jay's reflections on teaching reading&writing online

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Jay's reflections on teaching reading&writing online

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Thank you for sharing with us such great resources! It really has been informative and inspirational.

I personally believe that there are genuine differences between online and offline teachings, but as far as communication goes, they are not that big of a difference. To use a metaphor for it, it's like watch a play and watch a movie, each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the final effect depends on the cast, settings and the audience.

To the second question, I find it really hard to pick one as my personal favorite based on their affordability to different needs. But I do want to highlight three types of tools from the 'toolkit' that I find very worth digging in for my future work.

1. Reading resources that have graded information. I think this can be very useful for teaching groups of learners with mixed-levels/capabilities;

2. Web-based tools, esp. those ones that have easy (or not at all) configuration for both teachers and learners. They are easy and quick to use, plus the fact that they integrate great with screen-sharing;

3. Collaborative writing and team-working tools, such as Etherpad, GoogleDocs. I also really like the idea of bringing the element of competition into the equation by using tools/platforms like WriteTheWorld.

All these are fantastic to explore. I will definitely try them in my future online lessons. Thanks again!!!

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I had no idea that there are so many tools available, and after having seen these videos, I can really say that not only are they making online teaching of reading and writing more challenging, but also, I would dare say, more creative than face-to-face teaching.

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I had no idea that there are so many tools available, and after having seen these videos, I can really say that not only are they making online teaching of reading and writing more challenging, but also, I would dare say, more creative than face-to-face teaching.

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https://dreamreader.net would be one of my choices because it offers a variety of texts for all levels and ages.

https://telescopictext.org would be another one, because I think that it would be very helpful for students to learn how to expand their writing, using all the things that they have learned in the past.

https://play.google.com/ for extensive reading especially for learners of C1 & C2 level

https://newsinlevels.com/ to improve the reading pace of young or new learners, using authentic and interesting texts.

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Watching the three webinars of reading and writing has added a lot to my knowledge. Despite the fact I taught online, I found those impressive videos very beneficial in terms of assisting teachers to prepare some materials especially for writing.

Teaching online is becoming more and more prevalent these days and I would like to say that I really find online reading much more interactive and effective than offline reading classes for some reasons: when teaching online, using technology is obligatory for both students and teacher, so teacher can send the text on the link or even project it on the screen. Under this respect, no need to use papers or to waste time to find which pages to read, which is a friendly-user to our environment. Even when students do the tasks, teacher can check answers quickly on the spot.

As it for writing, EtherPad is a versatile online platform that allows multiple users to collaborate on a single document in real-time. this link is useful and explain how it starts https://archive.flossmanuals.net/etherpad/getting-started-with-etherpad.html

Regards,

Maroua.

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When getting started with Etherpad you are likely to start in one of two ways. You may be the person who is initiating the writing. In this case you will want to chose an Etherpad service and create a new pad. Alternatively, you may be someone invited to contribute to an already existing pad.

How to get started

Create a pad

To create a pad, point your browser to a service which is running Etherpad. If you want to be independent then you may want to install Etherpad on your own server.

Some existing services at the time of writing are:

Once you land on these pages there are different ways of creating a pad. Some servers will give you an automatically generated pad name. Others allow you to enter your own name.

To invite others to collaborate with you on this pad you can click on the </> Icon to show options for sharing the pad.

In this case copy the link to share the pad.

You can now send this link via email or and instant messaging service inviting other people to join you in the writing of the document you have just started.

Start work on an existing pad

To start work on an exiting pad you will normally be sent a link to the pad. This will normally happen via an email written by the person inviting you.

Often you will be able to click on the link being sent to you. If not you can copy it and paste it into the address bar of your web browser.

Single author writing in your pad

To start writing you can use the pad in the same way that you would a normal word processor or the writing window of an email editor.

If you have just created the pad yourself you will see some existing text already there. You can select this and delete it.

You can now type text into the editor.

You can format the text using the provided buttons on above the text box.

These are in order: Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethough, Numbered list, Unordered list, Indent, Outdent, Undo and Redo. Some of these formatting styles are show below.

As you type you may notice that there is a background color behind what you type.This color is called an Authorship Color. If other people start writing to the pad their text will show up as a different color. If you are only writing by yourself then this may be distracting and you can choose to remove these Authorship Colors by clicking on the multicolored icon.

Multiple author writing in your pad

As other people join the pad and start to type their text will appear in other colors. This allows you to keep track of who has written what.

To make this easier, it is a good idea for you to link our name with your color. To do this click on the icon of the head and shoulders at the top right of your page.

This will prompt you to enter your name.

Type in a name or a nickname or pseudonym and press Enter.

As more users start to edit the document they will appear in this list.This allows you to see who has written which text.

Interacting with other writers

One of the core reasons for using Etherpad is to be able to collaborate in real time with other writers remotely. Etherpad provides a Chat window which allows you to talk in real time with other writers.

To activate the chat on on a default installation, click on the chat icon .

If you type text in the small text field at the bottom this is now visible to the other people currently looking at the document.

The chat tools is a great way of exchanging information about what you are writing or simply to greet others and make them feel welcome in the collaborative writing process.

It is possible to display chat more permanently. You can do this by clicking on the left of the two icons above the chat window.

Recording changes and revisions

One of the key features of Etherpad is that it keeps a record of all the changes that are made to the document.

To view these changes click on the icon that looks like a clock to show the time slider of the project.

There is a playing head slider which you can drag to the left to move between versions.The playing head starts at the right with the latest version of the pad.

Dragging this playing head back to version 0 should show the default message and the time when the pad was created.

*When you drag the playing head you will see the text alter. This is a visual representation of the changes that have been made to the text.

It is possible to click on the play button to the right of this timeline screen to replay these changes at a speed where you can generally keep a track of what happened.

Practically, this is useful because you or a collaborator may have deleted some text by mistake which you might want to restore. It is also very interesting to see how your collaboration progresses. This is a great visualisation of collaborative creativity in action.

When you are finished you can click on the Return to the pad link.

Intentional Saved Revisions

While Etherpad saves all work and changes in small increments by default, you may want to set intentional versions or revisions. This is done by clicking on the star icon.

If you go to the Timeline view of a pad where these saved revisions have been used you will see the intentionally saved revisions as stars marked along the timeline.

You can skip back to one of the 'starred', intentional versions by double clicking on it.

Importing and exporting documents

You may want to start a pad with a word processing document you have already created.When you have finished collaborating you may also want to export the document you have created.

It is possible to do this in many different formats. To start click on the Icon with two arrows facing opposite directions in the tool bar on the top right.

You can choose to export to a number of different file types. These include HTML, Plain text, Microsoft Word, PDF, ODF (Open Document Format), DokuWiki and MediaWiki.

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When getting started with Etherpad you are likely to start in one of two ways. You may be the person who is initiating the writing. In this case you will want to chose an Etherpad service and create a new pad. Alternatively, you may be someone invited to contribute to an already existing pad.

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Hello!!

Before I begin, I would like to point out that I have no experience in teaching.My reflections derive mainly from my experience of some technology oriented seminars that I contact in my work and my personal views after I have watched Angelo's webinars.

1)

I believe that online teaching of reading and writing is more challenging than face-to-face teaching.Even though there are now plenty of tools that a teacher can use, the end outcome cannot much that of face-to-face teaching.When the teacher teaches face-to-face,he/she can control better the progress of the students in each step.First of all there are no technology obstacles.By that I mean, the danger of no good Internet connection that might interrupt the lesson.Another thing that might jeopardize the course of the lesson for the student is hardware problems.The computer during the lesson might have a particular issue that at the moment of the lesson cannot be fixed.All these technical challenges can be stressful to the students.

Another issue with online teaching,which I believe is important, is how to keep the students motivated and focused due to limited social interaction between peers and the teacher.

2)

I would use PenPal.

One of the things I liked about this tool is the fact that,as Angelo's said,a teacher can use it with any level.For me this means that you can learn a tool very well and if at some point you don't have enough time to prepare you can use it for your lesson in all stages.Another thing that I liked about the tool is that it can create connections with students all over the world while working on a particular project.I find this quite exciting since learners can make friendships with students on various cultural backgrounds and share plenty of things besides the material of their learning process.This can motivate them and accelerate their focus.

I would use this tool in a way so as to make the lesson exciting,interesting and productive for me and for my students.I would create a project with a theme that they would like and then I would ask them to share with me and the rest of the class their experience when talking with other students across the world. At the end of the project I would ask them to provide me their own reflections and views of the whole process (what they liked the most,what they think was difficult,what they would change and if they have created new friendships).

Best,

Katerina.

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Hello everyone! :)

I am very excited after all the things I have learned from these webinars and the course in general as they offered a comprehensive analysis, teaching tools, advice, and practice for online teaching at all levels and skills. There are so many tools that I am eager to incorporate into my online lessons and try them out. In my opinion, teaching online can be very engaging for students as it exposes them to a variety of platforms and tools that make it different from conventional face-to-face teaching. There are many platforms available, and with the help of textbooks, reading and writing skills can be taught effectively, with students being active participants in the learning process.

For reading and writing skills, I particularly liked newsinlevels.com. I believe that real-world issues and topics help students engage more in the lesson and motivate them. I will use it in class to have discussions with the students or use BORs to have them discuss the topic or create an exercise (e.g. True or False exercise) based on the text given.

Furthermore, I found etherpad.com to be an effective and collaborative way to boost writing skills. The fact that students do not have to register is great, but the most significant feature is that they can write synchronously. I would use it to have students correct their mistakes on their own or have other students correct them, which would help boost engagement and collaborative learning.

Lastly, my favourite tool is VoiceThread.com which is very similar to Padlet.com. I am very familiar with Padlet as a student myself, but I have never used it in my classes. I will definitely use them though, as they allow students to upload their voice recordings, videos, presentations, or images and also allow commenting.  I plan to incorporate them into my classes by having students upload a picture, video, or recording related to the unit we’ve learned every time we finish a unit. I will instruct other students to respond to at least two students, which will encourage discussions and practice their writing, speaking skills, and critical thinking.

I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Angelos and all the instructors/speakers involved in this course/webinars.

Kind regards, Olta.

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Layla's Reflection on reading and writing tools.

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Layla's Reflection on reading and writing tools.

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Hello everyone,

I don't know about you but the existence of all these tools is a new one for me!

When the Pandemic took over our lives I was finishing High School and needless to say, my teachers were not at all prepared to give online lessons and that made them boring and especially worthless in educational terms; that is why I'm committed to finding the best tools for the students I will be teaching.

I know that for most students reading and writing are not very stimulating activities, especially in online classrooms, so I think it is very important to make them as interactive as possible, to avoid distractions and boredom that take time form the already short online lessons.

One of the tools that particularly interested me for lower levels learners is readlang.com. I think it is an ideal tool to use with learners that are going from one level to the other and are starting to read more complex text on specific topics on which they don't have general knowledge. The website has a lot of texts and gives the possibility to translate words into one's mother tongue, to create vocabulary lists and flashcards to study. This tool helps students learn vocabulary inherent to a specific topic and not feel overwhelmed by new words.

Another tool I really think I would enjoy to use to motivate students to read is dreamed.net. This platform has texts in all different levels and topics and the best thing is you can download and print all of them so students that don't like reading on their electronics can have a physical copy.

For writing assignments I would combine the use of more than one platform, as Angelo presented us so many good tools. Firstly, I would use writeabout.com to give learners ideas and prompts, as it is always hard to find a great topic. Secondly, two other websites that fascinated me particularly are peergrade.io that makes students give feedback to other students, adding a reading task and making learners attentive to mistakes.The other one is storywars.com: this platform also gives an additional reading task to students as they have to read other's chapters of stories and decide which is the best.

I really enjoy interactive activities, as this makes the lesson much more interesting and helps keeping attention levels high, so thanks for all these good ideas!

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1. The challenges of online teaching for reading and writing include technology and engagement issues, while face-to-face instruction deals with logistical and classroom management issues. Both have their pros and cons, with online teaching offering flexibility but potential engagement hurdles, and face-to-face instruction providing direct interaction but facing logistical challenges. The effectiveness of each method depends on factors like teacher adaptability and student preferences.

2. The different range of tools presented proved to be invaluable, offering unique and efficient ways to reinforce language skills among students. As I explored each tool, I noted specific tools, which not only engaged me but also sparked ideas for incorporating them into my teaching methodology. The potential for enhancing the learning experience became increasingly apparent, and I am eager to explore how these tools can be thoughtfully integrated into my lessons.

However, it's essential to acknowledge that some tools may pose challenges, particularly for learners at the A1-A2 level. The less user-friendly interfaces and challenging sign-up processes might be difficult.

In conclusion, my thorough examination of the tools, combined with the insights gained from watching the film, leaves me optimistic about the positive impact they can have in the educational setting. I am grateful for this introduction and look forward to embracing these tools as valuable additions to my teaching toolkit.

Thank you Dear Angelos !

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Online teaching and the integration of technology have become increasingly prevalent in education, especially during the last years. Sometimes this can be really challenging both for students and teachers as well, as we need to get used to a new and slightly different way of learning and teaching.

When it comes to teaching reading and writing skills in an online environment things can be a bit difficult. However, this new reality has given us the change to change our way of teaching such skills and look for more creative and enganging methods.

With the help of great online tools like etherpad, Story teller or Foldpass, the lesson can be more collaborative and creative. Teachers have the chance to plan their lessons "out of the box" by not only sticking to traditional ways of teaching reading and writing skills.

I will definitely start using some of these online tools and especially Etherpad, which is great for collaborative writing and text editing.

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It's difficult to label online teaching as more or less challenging than in person teaching. Instead, I believe that it's simply different.

Of course it's going to be difficult if a teacher approaches online teaching the same way as in person teaching. Realistically, it’s not going to be successful. However, if a teacher utilizes available resources (and due to covid, there are so many to choose from), I believe that online teaching can be in fact easier than in person teaching, especially when it comes to reading and writing. This is because all of the students have all of these resources at their fingertips as well, and teachers can share these links and assign tasks with a click of a button.

As a teacher, I am always drawn to utilizing creative writing in the classroom, and https://writetheworld.org/ is something that I’d like to use in the near future with my teenage students. For reading, I’m a big fan of https://readlang.com/en/library, as it includes filters in terms of difficulty as well as translation, which allows students to build their vocabulary unassisted.

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I personally feel that online teaching can be more difficult. Students can be easily distracted if they are at home, there may be interruptions for them, etc. When you are teaching face-to-face, you can immediately see if your students look bored, if you are losing them. This can be more challenging online.

There were many great ideas and tools presented. A couple of ideas that I really liked were having students make a video and narrate it, I liked the idea of making a Bitmoji and letting them try to describe it and also the map with students needing to give directions.

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Having watched three webinars exploring an abundance of digital tools for improving reading and writing skills, I would like to express my gratitude to Angelos for presenting such a great variety of engaging and effective teaching resources. Needless to say, our students will benefit immensely from the introduction of them to classes.

One of the resources I am willing to implement with my A1-A2 students is newsinlevels.com. Angelos dispels the myth that only advanced learners are able to read and understand the news in English. Thanks to this website, even A1 level students can take pride in reading and understanding the current affairs.

Another website I would like to explore, this time with my B1-B2 students,is textcompactor.com , which is a text summarization tool I have never heard before. I particularly favoured the idea of assigning learners with writing summaries of their own and later comparing them to a computer generated one, making them guess the author and considering pros and cons of both.

Apart from a huge diversity of websites on which the presentor enlightened us on, I highly appreciated his "non-web" activities: "jigsaw" reading online (A1-A2 learners) and letting learners choose a text, providing short oral presentation with the intention to "sell" it to the peers, voting, and finally letting the winner conduct a reading lesson with one's own text.

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Online teaching presents some expected challenges, which are not faced by teachers in physical settings, especially in the areas of speaking and listening. When it comes to reading and writing, however, online teaching gifts teachers the opportunity to exploit and share with their students many resources and tools that make learning more interactive than the plain texts used in ordinary classrooms. Watching the videos, a couple of tools stood out to me.

The first one was newspaper.jaguarpaw.co.uk, which allows students to write articles and turn them into a newspaper front page. I would use this tool for writing assignments, as it would give students some extra motivation to complete them. Especially for younger learners, tools that provide or create texts with visual appeal can help raise students' interest in the task at hand.

The second tool I would like to use in my classroom is dreamreader.net, a website that provides a wide array of vetoed, age-appropriate texts for every level. This rich source of texts would save me a lot of searching time and I would also be free of anxiety as to whether the text I chose to use is appropriate for my students.

Finally, for writing tasks, I would also maybe utilize foldpass.com (a website that allows students to collaborate on creating haikus) and GoogleDocs (by making each student write a line until they create a short story), so as to promote group work in the classroom.

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Online teaching of reading and writing can be more challenging than face-to-face teaching, due to lack of physical presence, connection issues and limited engagement. despite its disadvantages though, it comes with a variety of benefits as well, such as more flexibility, various resources and lessons can also be recorded and reviewed.

All the tools mentioned in the videos seem extremely helpful and interesting. of the tools mentioned, I would definitely use news in levels.com. with this tool, learners can be exposed to authentic news sources that correspond to their language level and they can also enrich their vocabulary. It can be used both for writing and listening and also has built-in activities.

As for writing activities, I would use Etherpad for collaborative writing, due to its simplicity, to encourage students to practice their writing skills in class and also for peer review. I particularly like the fact that it tracks which changes were made by which user so it is easy to assess students' level and contributions.

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The videos I watched helped me gain a deeper understanding of various tools and strategies that I could use in different levels. I am thankful for the opportunity to access so much information in such a short time.

1)Personally speaking, I think that teaching reading and writing, when conducted online, certainly has some challenges but can be equally creative and productive when compared to face-to-face teaching.

One issue that may arise, is that the text is in different form. Reading a printed text from a handout or a coursebook provides a different visual geography of distinct pages. Furthermore, learners may subliminally think that the texts provided online may not be equally “important”, because of their daily exposure to social media content.

Teachers could assist students to enthusiastically engage in reading online, by providing the material that is suitable to their own needs, breaking down larger texts, organizing classwork activities, and dividing the online classroom into breakout rooms, where they could have the opportunity to practice reading sub-skills and speaking at the same time.

Writing can also have some challenges: When conducted solely through word processor software like Microsoft Word or Google docs, which usually have auto-correct options available, the teacher is not able to comprehend spelling or syntax issues.

A possible solution to this problem would be to encourage learners to try short writing tasks through google docs but continue using their notebooks for longer written assignments. They could still be delivered online through google classroom, in the form of photos or scanned documents, and teacher comments could be digital. So, old-school notebook writing would be creatively merged with high-tech online correction, while the educator can still keep contact with students’ handwriting.

2) As far as the online tools are concerned, I was impressed by the things that could be achieved using rewordify.com. Bringing the vocabulary and language structures closer to what students of various levels can fully comprehend, seems to me as an invaluable tool for language teachers.

Furthermore, I found Readlang.com a very interesting platform, where learners can acquire vocabulary through translation and flashcards.

My personal favorite when it comes to teaching writing online is Google docs, because after some practice an online class can do amazing things such as collaborate in writing activities. Students can also deliver their assignments through this platform, especially when it is integrated into the Google Class environment.

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Teaching reading and writing is challenging whether it is face-to-face or online. After having watched Angelos’ webinars on teaching online using digital tools, I realised that there is a plethora of tools that can improve our teaching and motivate both online and face-to-face students.

I have taken notes and copied the links of every digital tool presented by Angelos. I’d like to try:

·        Etherpad for collaborative writing.

·        Write about when students run out of ideas.

·        Story teller since I have always wanted to create a story with my students. Foldpass is a fun way to write a story collaboratively, as well.

·        TeleScopictext.org for students with poor writing. It’s a nice example of how to expand a sentence.

·        Rewordify.com as it can simplify difficult English and help build better vocabulary.

To sum up, I need time to adapt to a new thinking of teaching and to incorporate some of these tools in my lessons.

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After watching all these amazing applications that Angelos presented, i would like to take a moment and thank him for providing all these tools that can actually add so much to the teaching and learning experience!
In my opinion, online teaching is  more challenging than face to face teaching, as  the teacher  has to make up for the lack of his physical presence and create  a healthy and interactive virtual classroom.
At the same time, when a teacher has a variety of tools to work with and has made a good preparation, teaching can become fun for both sides and enhance the learning experience for the students.
The presented tools are really impressive and i believe that one can use most of them in different occasions to increase the interest and participation of the learners.
I was really impressed by the following apps:
¨Textadventure.com¨, enables the students to co-create a story and have control over the narrative and that is something that i believe the learners would enjoy.
¨Storybook¨, where the learners can add animated characters and text, can also be a fun activity for them.
¨Dreamreader.net¨ and ¨Newsela.com¨, where we can choose the text according to the level of the students we address to.
¨Realworks¨ is a nice app where the learners can annotate a text and the teacher can access and monitor their progress.
Also, in my opinion, some of the most important tools that can come handy in daily interaction with the learners  are :
¨Zoom¨ and ¨Zoom Annotation¨
¨Easyprompter.com¨
¨Etherpad editor¨
¨Scrible¨
There is really such a wide variety of tools that Angelos has presented to us and they are all so useful!!

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Hello everyone

All three webinars offer a wide variety of useful online tools and inspiring ideas.

I think that online and face to face teaching of reading and writing can be equally challenging. In both learning environments the teacher has to follow carefully planned stages with meaningful tasks that fulfill the purposes of the lesson using the appropriate material and tools. Almost every digital tool presented can also be used in the classroom on an interactive whiteboard or on mobile phones.

However, different kinds of challenges might be faced during online lessons;those are the ones that relate to poor connection and technical problems.

Every tool presented in the three videos can be effective when used according to the aim the teacher has set. I would like to use the easyprompter to improve the learners reading pace, as fast reading is what some learners struggle with even in higher levels. Before they start reading, they could be asked a question about the gist of the text.

I really liked the activity that learners are sent to breakout rooms having been given different types of texts (eg. One group gets the brochure of a hotel and the other gets a review of the same hotel). They ask each other for information and when they finish they use the answers they got to write what they think the other group’s text was like. In the end they can compare their texts to the original ones.

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Technology proves that online lessons can be effectively delivered. I have learned a lot from those videos. Teaching skills is really demanding and needs a lot of preparation by teachers. However there are many helping tools.
For reading, I can use the text adventure website as it provides a variety of authentic texts that are level graded. The teacher can choose the text with suitable activities for her students.
For writing,
the teacher can use eatherpad. It is very useful as students can share their writing so the teacher can evaluate their work. And the students will enjoy it as they share their writing anonymously.

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It was an eye opener to watch all 3 videos and Angelos' suggestions on how to acquire and use all these digital tools with our learners.

From my years of experience, I have noticed that skill lessons are the hardest ones to teach and especially reading and writing. Today's learners are not exposed to authentic material as much as they should have, thus having particular difficulty in handling tasks which require reading for gist or for specific details. Take for example, exam tasks whose topics most of the times are not of interest to the learners in the first place. Writing, on the other hand, is another challenge due to the fact that our "digital natives" strongly prefer instant messaging ans texting which result in poor writing skills.

Having these in mind, I found all information extremely valuable but rewordify.com really caught my attention as it intelligently simplifies difficult English providing teachers and learners with alternatives while producing a written project.

Besides that, I liked dreamreader.net as it offers a wide range of choices in terms of reading texts addressing all levels and ages and culturally appropriate for all ethnicities. The same site enables the teacher to design tasks and output.

Angelos, thank you so much for the enlightening guidelines provided through these videos!

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I spent some quality time watching these webinars and taking notes. It really impresses me how many tools there are for teachers and learners of all levels to use.
My top picks for Reading & Writing are:
- Newsinlevels.com (in fact I have used it with my students and find it absolutely necessary to help keep up with the news and world agenda).
- Easyprompter.com seems to a good fit for online lessons as the teacher sets the speed at which the text scrolls and forces students to follow each sentence  thus making sure everyone is involved in the reading process.
- Telescopictext.org should work well with B1 students. I'm going to try in my next lesson.
- Foldpass.com - perfect for group lessons. It's such an exciting activity everyone remembers from their childhood!
- Freenewspaper generator is an app I would use with all levels as it's a great common activity with an actual "result" every learner can take home (either virtually or offline).

Digital tools for Reading & Writing for C1 & C2 levels are more complex and require more preparation from the teacher. I need some time to try those out. But already now I can say that peergrade.io sounds interesting and I would definitely use it as it gives students such a great opportunity to learn and share feedback in their own time.

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All webinars on online tools I watched were extremely helpful. Most of the tools I was not aware of and I got some great inspiration to try them out. I think they can almost all be used for all levels depending on the activity the teacher assigns to the students. For higher level students who I usually teach, I would try, among others, rewordify by giving students a simplified text to make more advanced.
I also loved story wars and peer grade as I think they promote competition and collaboration respectively, so they could be used consecutively to promote a certain group dynamic.
Overall, great ideas!!

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Hello everyone,

After watching the three webinars I realized that online teaching can be both a challenge and an opportunity to improve a lesson.  I don't have any teaching experience so Angelo's helped me to understand the various ways of making a creative lesson.
It is very important that at the beginning of each video there is a variety of topics regarding the different levels.

The newsinlevels is very useful as it provides different news to each level for reading activities. In every text there are various words in bold that are more difficult for the learners with the meaning provided.
Also, another useful tool for teaching reading is https://www.ngllife.com/student-zone/interactive-reading-practicewhich provides also a listening and a comprehension task for understanding.

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Hi everybody.

I found Angelos’ webinars really inspiring, offering such a variety of tools that can be explored and used during online classes. I have no experience as a teacher, so watching these webinars introduced me into a new world of ideas and suggestions I will for sure pick up from to design my future lessons. Also, I appreciated the introductory parts detailing the subject areas and the goals for each level learner, as they really help to draw a roadmap and to personalise the lesson to target the learners needs.

In general, as regards reading activities, I like the idea of the graded news, because each learner can read about the same topic but according to his/her level and the teacher can therefore adapt the same activity for more learners. Moreover, each learner can challenge him/herself trying to read the same text in a higher level. So, www.newsinlevels.com for example can really be useful to differentiate the reading activity and it can stimulate the learners to elevate their skills.

In terms of writing, the newspaper generator is something that learners could have fun with to create their own articles and visualise them as real newspaper articles. It could be used to promote creativity and writing activities on a weekly basis.

Besides, the following tools are very interesting:

www.telescopictext.org because it is extremely easy and fun, students can collaborate and write together adding more structured sentences each time. It is like a game so it can keep learners engaged while they develop their writing skills, and when the writing activity is over the teacher can focus on lexical items and grammar.

www.hemingwayapp.com can be very powerful especially for high levels learners, as it can help them improve their writing skills and express themselves more appropriately. They can add their text online or write it directly on the blank page and get the corrections by clicking the edit button. The tool highlights any mistakes in terms of style, register, vocabulary etc, so the learner can correct and re-write the text and model it until it is fluent, readable, and effective.

www.rewordify.com is brilliant, it can adjust any text and make it easier to read and to understand, it helps expanding vocabulary as you can print the list of new words, recognising the parts of speech and it also creates a bunch of activities for the learners. So, it is extremely good for students as well as for teachers.

I would also mention TED Ed as a valid support for lessons planning for someone like me who is approaching the teaching environment almost from zero. Thanks for sharing so many creative and powerful tools!

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After watching these three webinars I can say that online teaching can be either a challenge or an opportunity to all teachers.

I've never used these tools as I've never taught online!

What I can say is that it's very important to choose proper tools that can really help learners without distracting them.

Among all the tools, I found a couple of them more interesting than others.

- www.etherpad.ch for writing activities.

You can use this tool online in your browser which is great as students can collaborate, but they don't need to download anything and also they don't need to register for using it. With this tool you can create a pad (a sort of new file), then you just copy the link and send it to your students.

The students can continue to write on this pad, each of them has a different colour: this is a way to create a collaborative writing activity.

There is also a chat

-www.newsinlevel.com for reading activities

It can be used in order to improve the reading pace of the students but also listening skills.

You can choose a text and the right level for your students, then you can project the text, set a task and set a time.

When time it's up, you stop sharing the text.

Students can also listen to the texts.

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As a result of the pandemic, online teaching has become the common for language teachers, and teaching reading online is what I consider to be the most challenging element of teaching.
There was a long period of time when online English reading instruction was considered to be just translation instruction. Some of the students were less self-motivated and their English foundation was not up to the volume of reading at large. At the same time, there is a lack of reading skills, so we need to teach students reading skills as well as helping them understand what they are reading!
Angelos' lessons have taught us about many forms of teaching activities and many particularly helpful websites for teaching reading. If used effectively, students are sure to experience the joys of reading online.
In addition to the tools and content, in order to make it better understood and easier for students to follow, I believe that students should be given clear learning objectives first. As a class, do a pre-reading in advance, covering aspects such as daily learning, daily homework assignments, and how homework is assessed.

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TLO has been really useful and is an excellent source of information, tools, sources and ideas for those who aspire to enrich their teaching.

The videos provided really helped me to broaden the scope of choice as regards different ways of promoting writing and reading.

Rewordify was a great addition to my teaching arsenal as it enables students to simlify sentences / texts which are either way too formal or contain dense, complex meaning / syntactical structures / grammar.

Similar to that, I found out NewsInLevels which expose learners to authentic material which can be adjusted to their level of proficiency thus leading to discussion based on everyday reality.

Many thanks to Mr Angelos for his helpful ideas.

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As to face-to-face and online teaching, I feel they are similar. But online sessions are a bit more challenging when students don't have textbooks, and the silence time online seems weirder, comparing when I could look at students reading quietly in a classroom.

Last semester in my school, we transferred several times from online due to the city's lockdown to the classroom when the covid was in control, and back to online again in the end. When I suddenly realized the classes would be online, I didn't have enough ideas about activities.

The webinars in this unit are awesome!!! Now I have many more ideas than last semester!!! :)))))

I can use https://www.newsinlevels.com/ to teach students of different levels. There's not only reading but also audio for listening.

https://readlang.com/ is lovely! I can also use it to teach Chinese!!

Each student writing a line is entertaining! :D I will try it soon.

And many more are very interesting. I will try them one by one!

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English news and easy articles for students of English

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English news and easy articles for students of English

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News in Levels « World News for Students of English

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We write news in three different levels of English. We want to help you understand English more. Now all students can enjoy reading and listening to news.

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.After watching these videos I think online reading and writing is more challenging than face to face teaching.
1.The interaction with students is not as good as off-line class, and some stduents cannot concentrate on studying for a longer time.
2.And because of the issues caused by the delayed internet,some stduents always cannot follow with the teacher's step.
.How woud I use it
1.I would like to inser some recourses into my PPT showing in the class directly.
2.The zoom platform will be used.
3.Use the white board/ Share Screen during the class.
(Reading & writing)
1.The shared website I will choose some useful materials to my students as the practice materials.
2.How about writing, I think the website:WWW.TELESCOPICTEXT.ORG， is
a really good website to make the writing more fun. It will be used as a way to motivate students writing something.

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Hi everyone!

I am glad that I had the opportunity to watch all these videos about useful digital tools that I can use in class so as to improve my students' writing and reading skills! I was a little bit indecisive about what tools to choose but I concluded in these two, which I was impressed by the most.
http://readlang.com
It would be a useful language learning tool for my students as they want to learn English by reading whatever they like 😂 (It is the moto of the website which suits their way of thinking perfectly!) This website enables them to translate words and phrases on the spot. Actually, it promotes the power of translation, which a lot of people underestimate. Then the student can create a vocabulary list with these words as well as flashcards and revise them later. It is a learning opportunity for them as the unknown vocabulary can become a lesson. Its use is preferable when we want to practice advanced and detailed reading and not scam or skim reading in which individual words don't play an important role in understanding the context.

https:// rewordify.com
I chose this website to help my students improve their writing skills. It enables them to copy and paste any text they want and it gives them a simplified version. They can use it autonomously for faster comprehension and for building a better vocabulary as special algorithm gives synonyms of words as well as rewords phrases, expressions and even whole sentences. What I liked the most is that it generates authentic material using the words given so depending on the material I have to teach I can create activities using the appropriate vocabulary. Most of my students dislike dictionaries because they are confusing to them and they are not patient enough to search word by word what they don't understand, so using this website can be lifesaving! 🙂
Finally I want to admit that implementing all this new knowledge will turn my lesson into a success as all students will be eager to participate! 🙂

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DT for Reading & Writing (Rastgar Ahmadi)

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DT for Reading & Writing (Rastgar Ahmadi)

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Hello there
It was great to watch these stimulating videos about digital tools. Honestly, I think with these tools, my students and I will enjoy the lessons more.
Well, here is my selection:
Reading

www.newsinlevels.com

1. Ls can install its app on their mobile phones and use it everywhere.

2. It has three different levels.

3. It can help Ls to improve their English by providing short authentic pieces of news which are nice to read.

4. At the end of each news, there is a list of difficult words with definitions.

5. There are some follow-up activities for listening, writing, and speaking skills.

www.rewordify.com

1. This amazing tool simplifies texts for Ls.

2. It makes it easier for Ls to check new or difficult words.

3. Ls can print or share their activities.

4. They can check parts of speech.

5. It saves your time and energy.

6. Ls can check the pronunciation of each word by clicking on it.

7. Ls can say goodbye to dictionaries.

Writing

www.etherpad.com

1. It's an open-source project.

2. It's completely free.

3. The best thing about it is that it's collaborative so several Ls can work on the same project simultaneously.

4. Ls can edit the work as much as they like.

5. The engagement is amazing, and it's wonderful to receive some feedback from peers.

www.telescopictext.org

1. It's a fun writing game.

2. It is collaborative, so Ls can invite their friends to write a text together.

3. It's easy to work with. The only thing you need to do is to write a sentence, click on start, and add more and more.

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Hi everyone. There were so many ideas and digital tools in these videos on teaching reading and writing that I honestly don't know which one to choose without feeling that I don't do justice to the other useful tools. So I have decided to choose the ones that really impress me in each level. The first one was "Newspaper Generator" which I think I would use for any  level. It could be part of a collaborative  newspaper project of the school in which learners add articles no matter what level they are. That would give them the self confidence that they communicate in the target language on topics of their choice or of local interest or even of global interest (for learners of higher levels).
I also found the idea of "Rewordify" very useful to show learners how they can advance their vocabulary when writing so that they, hopefully, stop using the same repertoire of words such as " good", "nice" and "bad".
"Commonlit" is also a digital tool that seems very helpful. The fact that it is designed for native speakers makes it more realistic even for younger learners and lower levels. Learners can see what pupils of their age might read in real life and do activities that are not specifically designed with the idea of TEFL in mind. I have always thought that using authentic materials in class ( and making students aware of that) makes them more intrigued about the text and interested in finding more about the culture of the country.
As a person who used writing to penpals help me with learning English, I cannot stress the importance of "penpalsschools" enough. Learners will be thrilled to meet new people from other countries and the fact that they have to work on a collaborative project gives everyone a purpose to use the language.
I think I could go on and on about the tools that I didn't know about and the possibilities they bring for a language lesson, not only online but also face-to-face. Many thanks to Angelos Bollas and everyone else included for presenting all these tools to us.

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It was really nice watching these videos. Being a teacher with a little experience I appreciated the instructions and sites given  for teaching online lessons.
I definitely think online teaching of Reading and Listening is more challenging than the face-to-face ones. These are two tasks that can become easily boring and not engaging. Another challenge us teachers face is the technological level. I am not so familiar with all these online tools and it will take me some time to learn how to use and include them in my future lessons. However, I believe that once I did include them, my lessons will be more engaging. During my CELTA experience  i saw my colleagues using the whiteboard, jamboard etc and they worked perfectly in the context of an online lesson with non native speakers. I now have the opportunity to explore all these tools I was introduced to and I am really excited about it.
All the tools and activities that were presented were interesting, but if I have to choose one that I am looking forward using is the www.newsela.com. It is an online tool that provides the same story to different levels, which is very useful for me as I teach one-to one classes or classes with 2-3 students maximum. It gives the opportunity for interactive quizzes and open qs for registered users ( also it is free) Another important factor is the tracking of learners' progress , which is very useful for the teacher.
I think this tool is ideal for showing the learners their progress in a nice manner. Using the same text for the same learner in different levels can empower the student and highlight his/her progress. To help the student witness his/her improvement I would present both the texts ( from previous and current level) and ask him/her to spot the differences. I would elicit things such as more information, more specific, new words or difficult ones, longer text etc. regarding to the second text.

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Having watched all the six webinars concerning online teaching of the four language skills from A1 all through to C2, I was really amazed to find how powerful digital tools are. Angelos also presented diversified classroom activities, which can be used in both online and offline teaching. Many thanks to Angelos for so many enlightening ideas.

I will definitely apply these ideas in my teaching. For my young learners, I believe it's not so easy to use many digital tools. Nevertheless, a picture with part of it hidden is good and handy to tigger their imagination and help practice listening and speaking skills. For learners at intermediate level, I plan to introduce in some digital tools like Breaking News.

The three adaptions of breakout room activity create a real purpose for reading, like jigsaw reading. Scrolling text at a given speed is also good for improving reading pace. Writing can also be fun for learners if the task is personalised and they find it related to real life, like telling stories, conveying life experience, informing about a subject or responding to literature, so on and so forth.

I've learned a lot from the course and will put it into use in my classroom bit by bit tailoring to my learners.

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I truly appreciate the various online tools introduced in the videos. In addition, Angelo developed different ways to apply these tools and websites to approach different teaching targets.

Since most of my students are at beginners and elementary levels, I thought it'll be very difficult to find many online tools for practising reading and writing. However, Angelo enlightened me by recommending 'New In Levels', 'Etherpad', 'My Storybook' and so on. He also explained how we could use break rooms to set reading tasks for A1, A2 levels.

The tools and websites for practising writing for different levels are amazing too. Writing is a skill not only difficult to learn but also not easy to teach. I always suggest my students use 'Grammarly' to check their writing. After watching the video, I learned more great tools for proofreading.  I also learned that we can use these tools in class to organize fun activities, such as peer work, penpals, correct a piece of writing text together, etc.

All in all, it is a great opportunity to get fantastic ideas for teaching online. I really can't wait to try some of the tools in my class.

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First of all, I am absolutely amazed by the number of different online tools and websites presented in the videos. Who knew there were so many different choices out there, for all levels and personal preferences!

1. As I have no experience with face-to-face teaching, I am unable to say which form of teaching is more challenging.

I think the main difference between teaching online and teaching face-to-face when it comes to reading and writing is that we have a much larger variety of tools and resources online than what we have available in a traditional classroom setting.

In my opinion, the tools and resources, which Angelos presented in the videos, offer a different approach to teaching writing and reading, which as a result can make the lesson more fun and ultimately more effective than working exclusively with a course book.

2. I would want to try several of the presented tools and activities, the one that I would like to mention here is Rewordify. I think this website offers a great opportunity for students to improve their deeper understanding of texts as well as individual words.

One option would be to allow students to use this tool while working with a challenging text to which they would have to answer numerous questions. This would allow them to learn about the meaning and vocabulary individually, rather than having to go through a pre-prepared list with the words selected by the teacher. This would personalise the learning process.

Another option would be for me to use this tool to set up a learning activity. When adding a text to Rewordify you can choose to print out different learning activities based on the difficult words the Rewordify system found in the added text, e.g. matching sheet and different quizzes. This would be a great way to introduce students with the key vocabulary needed to complete a detailed reading task.

I am looking forward to exploring all the different tools and activities!

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Evaluating Digital Tools for Reading and Writing

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Evaluating Digital Tools for Reading and Writing

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My reflections

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Digital tools for reading and writing lessons

I've watched three seminar videos and took some notes. I have to say it's sooo helpful for online teaching reading and writing.

Before watching the seminar video, I' m not sure about all the sub-skill in terms of reading, so I   reviewed it beforehand and then started to watch the seminars.

Here is my note for reading skills, just in case anyone needs it.

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Maria S

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Maria’s Reflection on Evaluating Digital Tools

(Reading and Writing)

Having finished watching all these wonderful tools Angelos has been showing us in the Transformative Teachers Webinars, I would firstly like to thank him for enlightening us on the plethora of so many versatile online tools that we teachers can use to enhance both our online and face to face lessons.

After watching really carefully all the detailed presentations and commentaries from all the participants, I basically realized that what we teachers do right now with this ‘Emergency Remote Teaching’ does not really differ from what we were doing before in our face to face classes. I absolutely agree with the comment that we are not looking into a different approach to teaching except maybe that we are now doing it online, using different environments and consequently tools.

If someone asks me what I would really like to see in the post Covid – 19 teaching reality my answer would be a harmonious implementation of the online tools with the face to face traditional teaching methods, always to the learners’ advantage and benefit.

As for writing, the online tool I liked immensely is make beliefs comix.com. As an English Literature graduate I fervently believe that storytelling is powerful. Thus, it must be included in the process of language acquisition. We are all familiar with storytelling mainly because we all have a story to tell or we have all been told stories as kids. Storytelling can trigger ones imagination and a teacher can use a story in his/her teaching not only in writing sessions but also in speaking, reading and definitely in listening.

About the App.: Make Beliefs Comix is a website and iPad app that helps students create comics letting students this way to express themselves. Students can view simple instructions (even my son age 13 could do it) before starting; they then can choose a character from the site’s library and insert it into a panel (this of course for the most artistic students might be a problem because they do not design the character but simply choose it from a gallery of characters) . They can add dialogue balloons, backgrounds and objects. Items can be scaled down, flipped and moved (some practice is required here). Finished comics can be saved locally, printed or emailed. The site is free but it is supported by many ads (careful on the content of those ads).

Pros for both teachers and students: Emphasize writing and creativity for students; hundreds of pintables for teachers; teachers/therapists who work with special needs students, might also find this tool extremely useful in making students express themselves.

Cons for both teachers and students: Poor navigation might be an issue. Another problem would be that some students might be using different devices which means that they cannot scroll between two different things. This, as suggested, can be dealt by having the teacher selecting images and simply ‘share screen’ or ‘whiteboard’. That means that students do not use the website at all.

How I would use it:

Online lesson on the Zoom platform:

Class time can be used to construct a story (using target language)

No need to use the website app as we said, instead images have already been collected by the teacher

Use of whiteboard/Share Screen

Brainstorming (structure the story, choose characters, set different characteristics the characters might have, start building each scene individually)

Final result is ‘writing’(you see a story in the form of a comic, less intimidating to fill talk balloons than to write a paragraph of a text)

(Original idea by Angelos Bollas)

As for reading I have really liked the ‘Easy Prompter’ online app. It does worth a visit on the www.easyprompter.com .

About the App.: What you can do with this app is to simply copy and paste your text on the software provided and share screen. Then the tool scrolls the text at a given speed that the teacher has set and the learners automatically see the text appearing sentence by sentence. By setting the speed, how fast or slow the sentences might appear on their screen, teachers are in control of their reading pace. Of course pace varies among learners but what you really get out of this process is having your learners read a text for meaning rather than focusing on specific vocabulary.

Pros for both teachers and students: Easy to use, you just need to copy and paste your text into the field, highlight words if desired then click ‘start prompt’. Click play on the next screen to start the prompter. Speed up or slow down the speed using + or – buttons. Teachers can also increase the size of the texts shown gradually so as learners do not feel intimidated or overwhelmed by the texts. Most importantly, at least for me, if you want to use this tool without the Internet, you can download the program by clicking ‘standalone portable version’ for free and have it in a flash drive.

Cons for both teachers and students: It might be difficult to use this online tool in a face to face classroom, unless where you teach you are privileged of teaching in really big classrooms, where everybody can clearly see on the projected texts. So, you either train your learners to use it as an h/w tool or use it in your online classes. I’ll give it a go either way.

How I would use it:

·         Collect text and copy paste it in the field provided. Text length and difficulty should follow the learners level

·         Share screen with your learners and press play, then the tool starts scrolling down the text at a given speed you have set

·         Learners are ‘forced’ to follow each sentence of the text as it appears and they have to read the text at a given time and pace

·         Explain to them how the tool works and why they are doing that task which is ‘reading for meaning’ at a preset time limit, so they should not focus on the things they do not know (unknown vocabulary) but the ones that they do

·         After finishing reading the text send students to Break Out Rooms and ask them to answer the questions you have sent them in the chat box (different questions for each group)

·         Bring back class together and ask the groups to check on their answers while you are monitoring if they are correct or not

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As the improvement of internet technology, teaching online has become a new alternative for Language teaching. The trend has been speeded up by the global epidemic. Teaching online brings convenience and flexibility, as well it becomes a challenge for traditional English teacher. Fortunately, studies on how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency has started years before, the videos I watched are good examples, which provide us with many valuable ideas on conducting an online lesson.

The different videos demonstrated different types of lessons with different aims. In skills developing lessons like reading and writing lessons in the videos, which require more interaction between Ls, would be more challenging due to the location difference of online teaching. It is quite difficult for Ls to communicate with one another like they do face to face. It impacts the efficiency of idea sharing, which prevent Ls getting inspired and elicited from the teacher and partners. Moreover, it’s more difficult for T to monitor and getting feedback from the Ls performance. When a teacher is monitoring a group, performance, contribution and emerging language from other groups can’t be noticed by the teacher.

Online teaching platforms, such as Zoom and Classin, are still updating themselves to satisfy the demand of group interaction and other needs. Breakout rooms are among the first steps. Teachers also need to adapt some activities which are suitable for online circumstance and make good use of online tools such as chat box and forum. As the development of AI, online writing and speaking platform, such as wrtie and improve and speak and improve can provide learner with alternative tools for self-study.

Generally, online teaching can be either a challenge or an opportunity to all teachers.  Managing to utilize the online tools and the new IT technology to benefit language teaching is a cutting edge technique teachers should study and master to help more English learners.

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Hello team! These videos have been a useful guide, since they provide us with a variety of tools that can be adjusted to the different levels of students and they adress multiple needs. I wish that I was aware of all these tools during my Uni Teaching Practice, because they can totally make a difference in class.
As a new teacher, I love experimenting with new methods and technology is a factor that should be taken into account. Technology has to be incorporated both in online and offline classes. One of the most interesting apps for reading has been "Readable" in which students can actually work on the text, highlight parts of it and justify their answers. However, wiriting has been a challenge for me in online classrooms, so far. It is important to keep the lesson interactive, even in the writing process.Thus, my favorite app has been "Story wars" and I really want to try this during my Celta. It is an app that improves both reading and writing skills. Learners can exercise their imagination and become more creative by reading a part of a story and then continue by writing their own version of the story. In this way, students are given the opportunity to be productive in class and share parts of their personality.

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Hi, everyone! This is Yuyu.
I've found some really brilliant tools about teaching reading and writing online. And of course, some can be used offline as well. As for me, doing online teaching is not so challenging. But we do need to change the way we interact with our students. So that a few novel ideas can be good choices. You can create a story and publish it using a free newspaper generator, which is really a cool thing. The teacher should be familiar with the functions you can use about the platform. Such as the attendee annotation is really helpful, which you can use to highlight, underline or circle something.

About reading teaching, there's one activity I'd like to give it a try. I need two texts about one similar topic. Divide the students into 2 groups and each with a text. Ask them to discuss about the text in two breakout rooms. Then come back to the main room, choose one student from group 1 to interview another student from group 2. Write down what they think the other text is like. This is a great opportunity for learners to communicate with their peers, to make comparison and speculation.

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After watching the videos about online teaching of reading and writing, I have really learned something useful and realised how different it is between online and offline teaching. Due to the global pandemic, we, no matter teachers or learners, have been forced to make changes of teaching/study mode, which is not easy to adapt for most people.

Although one of the videos mentioned that reading lessons could be delivered better in online classes, in my opinion, I still believed online teaching is more challenging, at least for now. In a face-to-face lesson, I could talk to learners directly and get immediate response from them. Also, if learners are assigned for group work, it would be easier to monitor and assist them more closely. On the contrary, when I teach online, for example I give learners a reading task and use breakout rooms, I could only monitor one room at a time. I could not hear anything from the other groups, which is not a problem in a face-to-face setting. Besides, internet connection is another unstable factor we need to consider. it is easier to lose someone for a minute or two.

However, I am still willing to adapt to online teaching as it does have many strengths such as time saving. During watching, I was very interested in the website called TelescopieText. I agree that it is a good tool to help learners with writing skills because if a learner clicks on a shadowed word or phrase, it will expand to more words and phrases so that learners can be aware of how to add adjectives or adverbs into a sentence. I also wanted to try one of the activities Angelos mentioned. Each learner writes a sentence and folds and passes onto the next learner to write another sentence. Finally they will get an irrational but fun story! I have never tried it before and it sounds fun and motivating to me.

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Hello everyone and welcome to Padlet. This is a very versatile tool that you can use with your learners. You can use it to curate content, you can use it as backchannel discussion tool, instead of discussion forums, etc.

For now, we will use it to share thoughts about teaching reading and writing online. After having watched the three videos we have posted on Moodle, I would like to invite you to consider the following questions and to share your answer below.

Your comments do not have to be in text form. You can record a voice or video response. This is a good opportunity to experiment with Padlet :)

Here's the question:
1. Is online teaching of reading and writing more or less challenging than face-to-face teaching of reading and writing?
2. Of all the tools and activities that were presented in the videos, which one would you like to use? Why? and How would you use it?