Vocabulary Teaching

Vocabulary teaching
Gerry’s Vocabulary Teacher including more than 10 million words helps us to create the meaning of the words. This software is very useful for the second language learners because we can download pronunciation of the word we are looking up. Sentences and keywords are given for better learning. Not only students but also teachers can use it in second language class. Yet, the description of the word is not given so the learners must guess the meaning. In one way, it is good for brainstorming but on the other hand it is difficult to guess the meaning because some of the sentences are not clear. In addition, only academic words are included not the phrasal words. If you want, you can save the file and create the test later on by using this software. Because of its small program size, it takes not much time to download. Moreover, if you want the full version of this webpage, you need to pay 60 dollars.

Text-to-Speech
The simplest process will be input text-speech engine-audio. You are going to the material, the software runs the engine. This software is useful in the second language class for listening lesson. You can write a sentence and want them to read. You can adjust the speed, change the speakers; male or female and change the different accent; British English or American English. If we want, we can create the pronunciation exercises and save the file. The disadvantage of this software is lack of intonation and stress especially in long sentence. In short, it is available for the current computers. The software is 20 dollars while the voice costs 50 dollars.

Wordchamp.com
This webpage is free but with some limitation. You are available to create a class to discuss the topic. After learning a vocabulary, you can check by doing exercises. In absolute recall part shows you the statistics of the result of the exercises that you have done and reminds you what you need to pay attention to. Flash card section provides you with the exercises and the pictures and this webpage allows you to use other users’ documents and file. At the same time, you can make the list of the words and study and if you want, you can save the list as mp3 file. This webpage is very useful for the vocabulary learning, listening and reading.

Moodle, Dokeos and Nicenet

www.dokeos.com
Dokeos is an e-learning and course management web application. It is free software (GNU GPL). It is famous for its user friendliness, consistency, a tool for good learning and interoperability. Teachers can create, manage and publish their course materials through the web so that students can follow courses ("My courses"), read content or participate actively through groups, forums, chat. Dokeos allows you to work cooperatively so that you can share your ideas and learn more. For each course a tutor can define a learning path that structures the course content. It is possible to add SCORM 1.2 or AICC modules, incl. transformed Powerpoint/Impress presentations with the additional software Oogie.
www.nicenet.org
It is similar to dokeos in some aspects; FREE service for high school students where teachers can post documents and assignments and students can discuss assignments and classroom work. It also allows the users to communicate and ask for help. The 'Internet Classroom Assistant' consists of forums, event scheduling, document sharing, personal messaging, and link sharing. Teachers can set up a site for their class in a few minutes and get a key which will allow the students to log into the class. Nicenet.org provides you with some useful functions: conferencing, link sharing and documents.
www.moodle.org
The word Moodle was originally an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. Like dokeos and nicenet, moodle.org is a course management system (CMS). It is free software package designed using sound pedagogical principle, to help educators create effective online learning communities.
By using Moodle, teachers can create and share activities for their students whenever they want through Internet. Moodle provides students and teachers with the opportunity to enjoy the time and space to provide thoughtful and detailed feedback to o¬ne another.

wikis and blog

Wiki and Blog

What is the difference between blog and wiki? Blogs and wikis are different spaces, manifest/take advantage of/engage different epistemic and rhetorical possibilities and serve different rhetorical and epistemic ends. They engage different rhetoric: one topical, carved from the inside out; the other chronological, staying on top of things.
As to Wikis, Wikis are simple interactive websites which are extremely easy to use for storing easily updated text content. It is very user friendly. For example one of the most famous wiki is Wikipedia that we can share the information through.
A blog, Web log, is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual. A user can upload any kind of entries such as graphics, video and writing. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. The other users can see your blog and add comment if you want.

PodOmatic, webquest and delicious

WebQuest
A WebQuest is a learning activity that learners read, analyze, and synthesize information using the WWW. It is invented by Bernie Dodge and Tom March in 1995. Learners complete WebQuests as cooperative groups so it can be called social website. Because the learners do or analyze the information according to the steps, it might be easy for some people. Yet, for me it is not very easy to use. www.webquest.com
Podomatic
Podomatic.com provides the learners with the podcasting portal which users can share, mix, host and podcatch the podcast and mp3. A user can have a profile if he/she wants so that they can share and send the mp3s and podcasts to their friends. This website is becoming popular in education. For example, the users can learn a language by hearing it. At the same time, this website is free and user-friendly. www.podomatic.com

Delicious
Delicious.com helps you to save the bookmarks and tag each of their bookmarks with a number of freely chosen keywords. Use of Delicious is free. The source code of the site is not available, but a user can download his or her data. All bookmarks posted to Delicious are publicly viewable by default, although users can mark specific bookmarks as private, and imported bookmarks are private by default. The public aspect is emphasized; the site is not focused on storing private ("not shared") bookmark collections. www.delicious.com

QuizFaber and Hot Potatoes

QuizFaber

QuizFaber is freeware software for Windows that enables you to create multimedia quizzes as HTML documents. This program simplifies quiz-making in HTML without any prior knowledge of HTML or JavaScript. The quiz is ready to be published on Internet, in a local network (with Intranet protocol) or on a local PC. It can be fully customize for the choice of background images, colors, sounds and font types. Finally, the quiz result can be saved on a web server or send through email.
Moreover, it allows to embed into quizzes multimedia objects as images, sounds and videos, since it is compatible with the more widespread Internet formats (JPEG, GIF, MID, MP3, AVI, MPEG), also with Macromedia Flash, Apple QuickTime, Liveupdate Crescendo, RealAudio, RealMedia browser plug-in.


Hot Potatoes

Hot Potatoes is a suite of programs published by Victoria University. Teachers use the Hot Potatoes programs to create educational materials, especially exercises and tests. All these materials can be produced in the form of web pages, and the web pages can be uploaded to hotpotatoes.net very simply, from within the Hot Potatoes programs. The Hot Potatoes suite includes applications enabling you to create interactive multiple choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the WWW. Hot Potatoes is not freeware but it is free of charge for publicity funded, non-profit, educational users who make their pages available on the web. Other users must pay for a license.

www.usingenglish.com

UsingEnglish.com specializes in ESL (English as a Second Language) with a wide range of resources for learners and teachers of English, and has been running since the beginning of 2002. Different varieties of English are used; there are contributors from the United States, Canada, Pakistan and non-native speakers, but much of the site uses British English as it was set up in the UK. A list of staff members and site contributors can be found.
Link to Us
If you have a website and think that UsingEnglish.com is useful, you are free to link to any page you like www.usingenglish.com
UsingEnglish.com News
Keep up to date with the latest news and information about UsingEnglish.com including new content, features and updates by reading our Site Diary.

UsingEnglish.com provides a large collection of English as a Second Language (ESL) tools & resources for students, teachers, learners and academics. Browse our grammar glossary and references of irregular verbs, phrasal verbs and idioms, ESL forums, articles, teacher handouts and printable, and find useful links and information on English. Topics cover the spectrum of ESL, EFL, ESOL, and EAP subject areas.

Report

UsingEnglish.com is a general English language site which connects people who have same aim, learning a language, and help them to practice their English and study for an exam. The webpage includes 6 main sections such as English Language Reference, ESL Tests, ESL Articles, ESL Discussion forums, ESL Teacher Resources and Tools & Resources. I think this webpage is especially very useful for Turkish learners who are preparing for the exams, YÖS, KPDS and KPSS, because it is more focused on the grammar and vocabulary. It includes quizzes, testes and exams which are useful for the learners to check their learning process. In addition, if they have a question, they can ask their teachers “Ask a teacher” section by sending an e-mail. If you want, you can also ask a friend who is a native speaker.

Unfortunately, this website lacks audio-visual devices. In other words, you can not chat with your friends or teachers. Yet, it does not mean that it completely lacks speaking skills. There are sections including English idioms, phrases and even slang which are very common in everyday language. Examples and usages are given so that the users can learn better even though they are not able to hear them. The learners can discuss what they hesitate in any kind of language in this webpage since there are many learners from all around the world.

English Language Reference
English Idioms
English Phrasal Verbs
English Irregular Verbs
Grammar Glossary
ESL Tests
English Quizzes
Language Tests
Reading Comprehension
Language Polls
ESL Question Bank
ESL Articles
English Usage Articles
ESL Weblog
TDOL's Language Blog
Speaking Out
ESL Teacher Resources
Teacher Handouts & Printables
PDF Lesson Plans & Worksheets
TESOL Forum News
Sites for Teachers
Teacher Articles
ESL Discussion Forums
Ask an English Teacher...
English Language (ESL) Forum
Tools & Resources
Text Analysis & Statistics
Check a Word's Grammar and Usage
Essay Samples
Software Downloads
ESL Web Directory

Teachers and Academics

Teachers and academics can register to this website and share their opinion. It does not have to be about grammar or that kind of stuff but the latest news about language. For example, there was an article about Noam Chomsky’s last invention about Syntax. Teachers can have discussion about ELT classes; what they should pay attention to or not to…etc. At the same time this website also helps teachers to find another useful links and other teachers hand outs. If they want they can share their hand outs, lesson plans and quizzes as well. The printable are free so that the teachers can use in their classroom.

Learners

By registering to usingenglish.com, the learners will have a chance to use this website limitlessly. They can have their own profile so that they can receive and send an e-mail whenever they need. The students can attend or form a social group so that they can have a friend and at the same time they will have a chance to practice their English or any kind of language.

This website is useful for all learners. In other words, beginner, elementary, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced level students can find any kind of materials they want. Yet to tell the truth it is not very colorful to attract young learners but it can provide them with useful and interesting links.


Ask a teacher
My posts
New posts
Today’s posts
Unanswered threads
Tags

Social groups
Grammar Glossary
Links
Idioms
Phrasal Verbs
Irregular verbs

All in all, usingenglish.com is very useful for the learners who are learning English as a second language. Yet, it does not mean that this webpage is just for the foreigners. There are many native speakers and teachers who use this page and exchange their materials. In other words, this website provides not only the students but also the teachers with any kind of materials which cover the spectrum of ESL, EFL, ESOL, and EAP subject areas. The users can ask a question to their friends & teachers, take printable, share their work and form a group if they want.

Online Communities of Practice

The term "community of practice" is used for knowing and learning from each other (communities) through online.
What are communities of practice?
Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better by interacting regularly.
Learning could be the reason for creating a community. Three characteristics are crucial for CP:
The domain: a shared domain of interest.
The community: In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information.
The practice: Shared practice.
What do communities of practice look like?
It can be small, large, formal, informal, often with a core group and many peripheral members. Some are local and some cover the globe. Some meet mainly face-to-face, some mostly online. Some are within an organization and some include members from various organizations.
Where is the concept being applied?
Organizations. This term is often used in business because of the recognition that knowledge is a critical asset that needs to be managed strategically and learning with/from each other.
Government. Like businesses, government organizations have adopted communities of practice for much the same reasons in the way of open knowledge sharing about typical government problems such as education, health, and security that require coordination and knowledge sharing across levels of government.
Education. Schools are using it in order to improve the students; internally, externally and over the lifetime of students
Associations. High-value learning activities. The peer-to-peer learning activities typical of communities of practice offer a complementary alternative to more traditional course offerings and publications.
Social sector. Building communities among practitioners.
International development. A financial challenge. It emphasizes knowledge building among practitioners. Some development agencies see their role as conveners of such communities, rather than as providers of knowledge.
The web. it expands the possibilities for community and calls for new kinds of communities based on shared practice.