From Dull to Dynamic: Designing Digital Games with Genially

📍Digital Game-Based Learning

Do you find that your students can play digital games all day without a break, but can't study for a while? I guess most of you’ve noticed this phenomenon! This is not surprising as students release more dopamine when they play games, which gives them a sense of achievement and enjoyment. SO, why don't we integrate digital games into language teaching to increase student motivation and engagement? 

To help you design an interactive and appealing digital game, I can’t wait to share with you a useful online platform I came across this week, that is, Genially. 

📍What is Genially?

Screenshot from genially

Well, I would like to describe Genially as an extensive library of various templates, including but not limited to presentation slides, flashcards, educational games, quizzes and videos. Of course, you can also become a creator to enrich the template pool! Since it’s hard to cover all the features of Genially in this post🥲, the following will only focus on the application of Genially in designing digital games. 

If you are interested in discovering more about Genially, please click here.

📍Why Genially? 

Before I tried Genially, I saw its advertisement saying👇

At first, I just thought this slogan was overblown. However, I realized that I was wrong after using it. Genially does have some awesome advantages over other tools:

• Eye-catching: The templates it offers for designing games are excellent in terms of color and animation. In addition, the games are varied and trendy in theme, and can quickly capture the attention of students. 

• Enhanced gameplay experience: Genially offers a range of interactive features, such as hotspots, pop-ups, and animations, which can make the game more engaging for students. Especially when applied to a classroom with an interactive board!

• Efficient and Easy-to-customize: If you use a ready-made template, it allows you to start with the work that is already halfway done. ALL you need to do is Select a preferred template and Click on ‘use this template’ – Replace the original content with what you need. Even if you have little or no design experience, you can still navigate it.

📍How can we use Genially?

Obviously, Genially-supported games can be applied in the classroom to warm up and liven up the atmosphere, or assigned to students as homework to check their understanding. Here, I found a video which introduces 5 ways to gamify class with Genially for you: 

In addition, we can ask our students to design their OWN games 🎉! Last weekend I gave students an assignment to design a game with Genially. Yesterday, they told me that they enjoyed the homework and reinforced their knowledge of the past tense as they designed and played the game. Here are the specific requirements:

1) Expected game time is limited to 5-10 minutes.

2) The purpose of the game is to test the player's understanding of the past tense.

3) After designing the game, share the link to the game with your classmates and ask them to play!

🙋Want to try a game designed by my students? Here is an example.

📍Any limitations?

• Cost: While Genially offers a free plan, some of the more advanced features are only available in the paid plans.

• Potential technical issues: Genially relies heavily on an internet connectivity and may suffer from slow loading time and lagging animations. If you use it in the classroom, have a plan B for unexpected situations.

• Form over content: It is true that dynamic games are better than dull ones. However, as teachers, we should be aware that overly fantastic game design has the potential to divert students' attention from knowledge to games. It is important to BALANCE the fun and educational aspects of the game.

📍Conclusion

In summary, Genially can be a useful tool for designing games or gamifying the class. If you haven't tried it yet, use Genially and let your students learn with pleasure 🥳, not pain 😔!

See it, Search it, YouGlish pronounced!

📍Pronunciation

Hello everyone, it’s great to see you in a new week! Today, I’m going to start my blog with a reflection on teaching pronunciation. Pronunciation was highly valued in ELT during the audiolingual period, but has become less emphasized with the popularity of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Specifically, the teaching of pronunciation has passed its heyday when fluency and meaning are prioritized. In particular, in China, less and less attention is being paid to students' pronunciation skills as they are not tested in the college entrance examination. 

However, as teachers, do we want to see our students pronouncing English words in a way that is difficult for others to understand? I think the answer is definitely NO🙅🏼. To improve students’ pronunciation, YouGlish is a worthy tool to try!

©Copyright: YouGlish.com

📍What is YouGlish?

YouGlish is an online platform that provides users with tools to improve their language skills, especially pronunciation. 

It is easy to use. Basically, type in any words or phrases in the search bar at the top of this site, and click ‘Say it!’, and then this site will show you a number of brief video clips showing how people say it. You can choose the accent that you want to hear, such as American, British and Australian. To better explain how YouGlish works, I searched a useful video for you:

Not only that, but below the video, there are transcripts, word definitions, nearby words and some phonetic information, including how the word is presented using the International Phonetic Alphabet, syllable breakdowns, and tips for improving pronunciation. 

If you want to give it a try, you can access it here. 

📍Why YouGlish?

• Learn words in context. As it advertises, the database powered by YouTube provides learners with over 100 million tracks on spoken English in real people and contexts. I totally agree that without context, there’s no meaning!

• Useful phonetic information. YouGlish not only introduces students to how others say a particular word or phrase, but also gives them practice on how to improve their own pronunciation of the word or phrase. More powerful than usual online dictionaries, isn’t it?

• Offer slow-motion and looping features. Learners are allowed to listen carefully to individual words and phrases and practice their pronunciation at a slower pace and to repeatedly listen to a specific segment of a video until they feel comfortable with the pronunciation.

• Unbiased pronunciation examples. In my opinion, standard English pronunciation does not exist. YouGlish allows learners to practice their pronunciation with a variety of accents and speech patterns.

• Can be used for free and without registration!

📍How can we use YouGlish?

YouGlish can be used both in class and after class. Here is one way you can use YouGlish in your classroom:

▪️Search for the target word or phrase in YouGlish, e.g. ‘How are you?’ 

▪️Introduce it and show students different video clips of where it is used and how it sounds.

▪️Give students time to practice pronunciation individually and ask them to create a dialogue in pairs using the target language.

📍Any limitations?

• No individualized feedback. Like other online tools, YouGlish should not be used as a substitute for formal language instruction. Feedback from language teachers or peers is important for students to improve their pronunciation. 

• Restricted access in China. Unfortunately, if we want to access this site from China, we need to use other software to get through the firewall. 

• It can be distracting. Imagine that your student was supposed to practice the pronunciation of ‘jump’ and ended up going to see Titanic after searching in YouGlish.

📍Conclusion

Although YouGlish has some limitations, it is still a wonderful tool for improving learners’ pronunciation. Give it a try, whether you use it in the classroom or introduce it to your students for after-school study. See you next week 💖!

“Sometimes I feel alone,..."

📍Online collaboration

“Sometimes I feel alone, I see my classmates on the screen, I talk to them through the microphone, but I can't really feel them.” 

©Copyright: eztalks.com

This is one of my students told me about how she felt in an online English class. At that moment, I realized that talking to each other is not enough for the students' learning and psychological needs, they need to collaborate! Conceptboard is a good assistant for students to work together 🤝.

📍 What is Conceptboard?

Simply put, Conceptboard is an online whiteboard built for remote collaboration. You can visualize your ideas on this whiteboard using versatile tools such as sketches, sticky notes, shapes and arrows. Conceptboard also allows teams to co-create projects and stay connected in real time by sharing screens and making video calls in the application. 

Screenshot from Conceptboard

📍 Why Conceptboard?

• All-in-one whiteboard. Users can add not only texts and images to the whiteboard, but also files, audios and videos. 

• Build relationships. The Conceptboard allows students to negotiate and collaborate with each other across locations and time zones.

• Facilitate brainstorming. Easy and fast connection between each block makes brainstorming more participative, engaging and productive.

📍 How can we use Conceptboard?

To enable students to collaborate with Conceptboard, all you need to do is: 

1. divide students into groups
2. assign each group a link to their shared Conceptboard 
3. give them the task instruction

One more thing ⏰, if you ask students to work collaboratively in class, don't forget to tell them the set time; if you make it a task to be done at home, it would be better to inform them of the deadline they need to complete. For students to get started with Conceptboard, this video will be really helpful:

More than an online collaboration tool, Conceptboard also can be employed as an online teaching platform. For example, think of a boundless whiteboard as a knowledge map on which you can write down some key points and put some activity materials in the lesson planning stage. During the class, just ask students to explore this treasure map with you! *Although you need to spend a lot of time and effort on designing this map, but I think it's worth it.

REMEMBER, how creative you are, how functional it is! 

📍 Any limitations?

• Free account is only allowed to add up to 100 objects per board. If you want to unlock more features, you need to upgrade your account. More information on the payment plans can be accessed here.

• Conceptboard requires students to spend time to learn how to use it. For students who are sensitive to technology may take only a few minutes, but those who are not, they may take a long time or even become resistant.

• Conceptboard is not irreplaceable. I have to say that there are many other products offering digital interactive whiteboards, such as Stormboard and Miro, that are functionally similar.

📍 Conclusion

Conceptboard is a powerful online collaboration tool for students, but its affordance is not limited to collaboration. Welcome to share your ideas on comments, see you next week!

Not only Lyrics Training, but also Language Teaching!

 📍 Teaching English with music

Today, multiple studies have shown that music 🎵stimulates learning and promotes memorization in a natural way and that music has the power to shape students’ brain to make learning other languages easier and smoother. Using music in the English learning classroom is not new, but it is worth considering how we can use it more effectively in the classroom. Lyrics training may give you the answer, let’s explore it~

📍 What is Lyrics Training?

Screenshot from Lyrics Training

    Lyrics Training is a website that offers a new way of learning English and other languages through music and the lyrics of songs. 

Specifically, it mainly aims to improve and practice the listening skills of language learners by allowing them to fill in the gaps in the lyrics. In addition to the website, it also has applications that you can download from here. That is to say, it can be used not only on a computer, but also on a mobile phone or ipad. How user-friendly it is!

📍Why Lyrics Training?

I know, you might want to ask me: why don’t I play the music on other music apps like You Tube Music ➡️ search and copy the lyrics into a document ➡️ the words to be filled? I will show you the unique advantages of using this website compared to the traditional way of teaching English with music:

• You don't need to spend time searching for music. Lyrics Training contains a large selection of songs (with lyrics) that you can choose from depending on the genre. 

• You don't need to drag the mouse back and forth to locate a particular lyric. Lyrics Training can cut the song into each sentence automatically.

• You don't need to delete the words that need to be filled in yourself if you don't have enough preparation time. Lyrics Training offers four levels of fill-in-the-blank exercises: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert.

Screenshot from Lyrics Training

📍How can we use Lyrics Training?

It is very easy and fun, simply play a song and ask students to enjoy the music while filling in the gaps in the lyrics. If you want to know how to use Lyrics Training in more detail, this video may help:

Honestly, I wouldn't suggest you use it for the whole lesson 🙅, it would turn into a music lesson rather than an English lesson, wouldn't it 😝? Here is an example of how I use the music 'If I were a boy' to teach my students about the second conditional.

☺ Step 1 - Material Preparation

    I search for the song on Lyric Training and then click on the 'New Exercise' button to select the words I want my students to fill in. Once saved, it will appear in ‘My Exercises’.

☺ Step 2 - Activity Instruction

    Before the song is played, I ask my students to listen carefully and shout out the answers in the gaps at the end of a phrase.

☺ Step 3 - Inductive Approach

    Ask students to work in groups to observe the form of the words filled in and to summarize the structure of the second conditional sentence.

📍Any limitations?

• Sometimes there is an advertisement of about ten seconds before the song video plays which may distract students.

• If the answer is not correct, you cannot enter it. This means that if the student cannot work out the answer, all you can do is either tell them directly or wait for them until they find the right answer.

📍Conclusion

Lyrics Training can provide you with a wealth of resources and convenience for teaching English with music. Also, I highly recommend that you introduce this tool to your students, especially those who like music. They may become more autonomous in their English learning with Lyrics Training!

A pack of CARDS, A lot of FUN !

📍Activity design 

As a language teacher, have you ever gone crazy and even lost your hair trying to design an interesting teaching activity? 

Screenshot from Triptico

I have experienced this, and not just once! To be honest, I’m already worried about my thinning hair 🥹. If you also struggle with how to make teaching activities engaging, Triptico could be your savior. And if you're good at designing fun activities, trust me, it's also worth exploring！

📍What is Triptico?

Triptico is a teaching tool that can be used to create and share a variety of interactive and innovative teaching activities based on data entered by the teacher. 

 

Don't worry, the data I'm referring to isn't something complicated that you need to code or spend a lot of time and effort on. Actually, all you usually need to do is fill in the information on a pack of cards (you can decide the number of cards), which can be either text or images. But note that the information on the front and back of a card corresponds to each other. This video will show you how to do this in detail:

📍Why Triptico?

As for the advantages of Triptico, I would say that if we can use it in the right way, it will create a win-win situation for both teachers and students.

 

For teachers,

• It saves time in design activities. You can use the same content to produce a number of different activities. 
• It is easy to use and share. You don't need to download any applications, it can work entirely browser-based.
• It helps you to create an engaging atmosphere that will motivate your students.

 For students, 

• They can learn knowledge while having fun.
• They may become more motivated and concentrated in the classroom.

📍How can we use Triptico?

It sounds simple enough, right? Do you want to create your own database now? You can visit Triptico here and register an account, then click the "Create" button at the top of the page to get started! Once you have made the cards on Triptico, lots fun activities will automatically be ready for you. I can't describe how magical and powerful it is in words, let's watch a video:

SO as English teachers, how can we apply these wonderful activities in our classrooms to promote students' English learning 🤔 ? Here are some ideas that might inspire you:

1. You can use activities in the warm-up stage to activate students' prior knowledge.
2. If you use the PPP method, activities can be designed  to check students' understanding during the practice phase.
3. Once you notice that your students are not paying attention or are bored, it is a good time to do an activity to grab their attention and pique their interest.

📍Any limitations?

• You need to pay to upgrade your Triptico account to unlock more functions. For free accounts, you can only save five files and without access to bonus resources.

• Consider the technical issues. What if some of your students fail to access the activity? Wait for them or start working?

📍Conclusion 

I highly recommend and encourage you to try Triptico in your classroom. You may fall in love with it for its powerful versatility 🥳! And don't hesitate to tell me anything you think about this blog or Triptico in comments!