Hey all,
This week I would like to share with you 5 amazing tools to work on and improve your students' speaking and writing skills. Debating or Brainstorming ideas in the classroom? Talking on-line with classrooms around the world or working together on a shared document? Improving writing skills through working on Spelling? You've come to the right place!!
We all strive to teach our students problem solving skills. Having them debate on issues concerning their interests is a great way to do that, and at the same time it improves their speaking skills as well. Check out this link IDEBATE that provides you with plenty of topics to discuss and each one of them offers for and against arguments for the students to use. Now, the fun part is to get them speak out, present and defend their arguments in front of the class!!!
Brainstorming is another great way to generate a fruitful discussion around different topics. It teaches the students how to aproach a problem from different aspects. It involves speaking and writing skills. I teach a lot as way to grapically organize their thoughts. Use WiseMapping and teach your students how to use it too. You can easily insert your topic, chose a template or create your own, and then fill in your associations. You can ass icons, links, notes etc. It's very user-friendly and your students would love the resaults!!
Now, there's no better way to work on speaking skills than actually speak to another person, so why not a whole class? When I taught in Tichonet we had a weekly lesson that was all about talking with another classroom on-line. Every week we had this session with a different class from different location. China, Belgium, Estonia and more. How? It's easy!! Use VoiceChat to have great conference chats. The students get to talk to other students of their age from different parts of the world!! You .just have to get in touch with fellow teachers around the globe, share a link and get to business!
What about working together on a document on-line. It sure helps with writing. Let your students work together simultaneously on a text, presentation or any type of writing oriented project via GoogleDocs . They will have to enter with their google acount and that's it! They can work on a shared document and each students would contribute his/her part. When you split the work you actually get them to work ;) I did it all the time in Tichonet!!
Last but not least is SpellingCity . It's a tool to improve writing skills through games and a lot of fun!!
All you have to do is insert your word list and you're ready to go!! Much like Quizlet the games will use your words to get your students practice their spelling in a way that motivates them to do so!!
'till next time...
Peace, y'all
