Make a poster with Postermywall (tutorial)

What is a poster?

A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be used for many purposes. They are a frequent tool of advertisers (particularly of events, musicians and films),propagandists, protestors and other groups trying to communicate a message. 

Benefits of using Postermywall

Postermywall is a web 2.0 tool to create online posters. It can be used for fun, for business or for educational purposes. This tool can be very useful in the English classroom, as it enhances creativity and the use of the language in a meaningful way. Those students who love working with graphics and drawings will surely enjoy using this tool. However, for those that are not so good at these kind of creative activities, the tool provides them with a variety of templates that helps them a lot so as not to start from scratch. This is why, I personally find this tool very useful in the English classroom context, because students can focus on language, while having fun designing the poster.

1) Getting started

-Enter www.postermywall.com

-Press on ‘Create your poster now!’

-Press on one the category that best fits the purpose of your poster: 

Halloween, Football, Concert/bands, Event Flyers, Retail, Small business, or See more.

- Select the template you like the most and press on ‘create’.

 2) Make your poster

-  Now, you can start customizing the template the way you like:

You can change the text by pressing on it. There will appear a set of options on the right for you to adjust the size, font, letter spacing, line spacing, alignment, visibility, and position. You can also remove the text or send it behind the image. You can also add a piece of text by pressing on ‘add fancy text’ on the left of the page. There, you will find a set of options for you to choose font, colour and colour effect. 

     

-You can add a clip art to your poster, by pressing on ‘Add a clip art’ on the left. There you will have to write any topic you like, such as ‘joy’, ‘party’, or ‘food’, and there will appear some images related to it. You select the one you like and press ‘add to poster’.

-You can also add a photo by pressing on ‘add photo’ on the left. There you will be asked to choose from where to take your photo: the net, Facebook or your documents. You should press on the option you like and follow the instructions (if you choose to take it from Facebook you will be asked to login).

-You can change the background by pressing on ‘background’ on the left of the page. There you will be asked to pick a background from different sources: just choose a solid background (single colour), combine two colours with a fading effect, choose an image from a set provided, choose a photo from the net, or upload a background image from your documents. 

-As you customize your poster, you can undo any of the changes you have made by pressing on ‘undo’ on the left.

3) Finally

- When you finish, you press on ‘save draft’ to save it. There you will be asked to login. You can do it using your Facebook account, your email, as a student.

- If you want to download the poster in your computer, you will be charged. As an alternative, you can take a screen shot of the web page and save the image as a .jpg document.


Have a look at a sample poster created on Postermywall!

See an activity on Postermywall

Have fun!

Make a meme with Wigflip (tutorial)

What is a meme?

An Internet meme is an activity, concept, catchphrase or piece of media which spreads, often as mimicry, from person to person via the internet. 

Benefits of using Wigflip meme-maker

Wigflip is a web 2.0 tool to create memes and other kinds of visual media. It can be used for fun, as well as for educational purposes. Students can play with words and pictures to work on meaning in a fun way. Teachers can create their own visual material by combining image and text. The interesting thing about working with memes is that there is always a joke implied, rather than just the literal interpretation of the text included. Memes are very popular on social networks and kids and adolescents usually exchange memes even in their own language. In this way, working with memes in the English classroom becomes very motivating, in the sense that the concept is familiar to students and close to their immediate reality. 

1) Getting started

-  Enter www.wigflip.com
- Select the option 'Robot-Meme generator'.

2) Create your meme

- You can start your meme using a random picture, a picture from the web or a file picture from your computer. Select the option you want and press ‘go’. In the case you want to use a picture from the web, you will need to introduce the link to the picture and then press ‘go’.   

-  Once you have the picture, you can add some text to it. You can customize the font and size of the text. So as to add it, you just need to type the text in the bar on top of the picture and then press ‘add text’. You can position the text wherever you like on the picture. 

3) Finally

-  If you are not satisfied with your work, you can start again by pressing on ‘start again’ below the picture.  
-  When you finish, press ‘save picture’. You can save it in your computer, post it to Facebook, or save it to Flickr.


Have a look at a sample Meme created on Wigflip!

See an activity on Wigflip

Have fun!

Make flashcards with Cambridge English Online (tutorial)

What is a flashcard?

A flashcard or flash card is a set of cards bearing information, as words or numbers, on either or both sides, used in classroom drills or in private study. One writes a question on a card and an answer overleaf. Flashcards can bear vocabulary, historical dates, formulas or any subject matter that can be learned via a question and answer format. Flashcards are widely used as a learning drill to aid memorization by way of spaced repetition.

Benefits of using Cambridge English Online flashcard-maker

Cambridge English Online flashcard-maker is a tool aimed at teachers and students of English. It allows them to create images acompanied by text, useful for the teaching and learning of vocabulary items. Teachers can use this tool to create visual resources for their lessons. In this way, the teacher can create the exact images she/he needs, instead of relying on some ready-made material that may not fit his/her purporse. Besides, students themselves can also profit from this tool. They can create their own visual material. In this way, students get engaged with the course material, becoming active participants in their learning process, rather that objects of lecture and textbooks. 

1) Getting started

- Enter www.cambridgeenglishonline.com
- Select the option 'Flashcard Maker' in the middle of the page.

2) Make your flashcards

- Now, you will see four options: '1 A4 card', '2 A4 cards per sheet', '4 A4 cards per sheet' and '8 A4 cards per sheet'. Choose the one that fits your aim best and press on the label.

- You will be given a set of options on the right of the flashcard/s. In each of them, you can insert an image, text and the correspondent phonetic script. You can draw your own image or choose one from the library. So as to adjust each of these options, you have to click on the labels.

- You can start by introducing a picture. When clicking on 'Use image library', you will be given a list of words for you to find what you need to be represented. For instance, if you choose the word 'out of', you will get the drawing of a ball out of a box. Otherwise, if you click on 'Draw your own picture', a blank window will appear, together with a pencil and some other options to adjust colour and size, erase and position the drawing on the sheet. Once you have finished, press 'Apply'.

-  To introduce text, press on 'Text' and write what you like on the box bellow, they press 'Apply'

- To introduce the phonetic script, press on 'Phonemic Script' and click on the symbols on the grid one by one in the order needed. Then press 'Apply' to inset it in the flashcard.

3) Finally

- Once you have finished, press on 'Print' if you want to print them at that moment, or take a screen capture, if you want to save it in your computer files.


Have a look at a sample product from Cambridge English Online flashcard maker!

See an activity on Cambridge English Online

Have fun! 

What is this Blog about?

Introduction

The purpose of this blog is to provide English teachers with a number of Web 2.0 tools useful in the EFL classroom. The first four posts are Web 2.0 tutorials that may be handy for students when using the tools. The last four posts are examples of EFL tasks for different levels and ages, implementing the use of the previous tools. 

The Web 2.0 tools chosen for this blog are:

1. Cambridge English Online  - Flashcard Maker
http://www.cambridgeenglishonline.com/Flashcard_maker/

2. Prezi - Presentation Software
http://prezi.com/

3. Wigflip - Meme Maker
http://wigflip.com/roflbot/

4. Postermywall - Poster Maker
www.postermywall.com

Why using Web 2.0 tools in the EFL classroom?

As Nik Peachey suggests,Web 2.0 enables:

• Socialisation - Through socialisation our students can use the language and skills they are learning to build networks and develop relationships with real people.

• Collaboration - They can work together with others to construct and share real knowledge.

• Creativity - They can create genuine products, in a wide range and combination of media to high standards, which will have a real audience.

• Authenticity - The tasks and activities they do and the people they communicate with to do them are real and motivating.

• Sharing - They can share what they create and learn from each other.

Michael Thomas claims that Web 2.0 tools enhance learning by allowing students to engage in self-directed learning and gain skills and resources that are transferable to their informal, lifelong language learning.He coincides with Owen in that nowadays, students must develop 'the resources and skills necessary to engage with social and technical change, and to continue learning throughout the rest of their lives." He explains that 'pedagogy based on a learner-centric, social-constructivist (Vygotsky, 1978) approach and supported by tools readily available online and part of the every-day lives of students can help create an active learning environment in which students and instructors work together to solve problems contextualized in the real world.'

How can Web 2.0 tools be implemented in the EFL classroom?

As Paula Ledesma suggests in her article 'Creative Applications of Web 2.0 Tools in ELT (2012), there are plenty on websites that allow students to work with language in various ways. For instance, storytelling techniques can be fostered when using flashcard makers. There are also other examples such as comic makers and poster makers, wich can be easily implemented in many different ELT activities. These Web 2.0 tools 'help students develop communication skills as most of these tools facilitate the creation of user-generated content and its publication,' P. Ledesma explains. Examples of different tasks including the use of Web 2.0 tools will be displayed in this blog.