50 tech tasks for the english language classroom
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This document lists 51 technology tasks that can be used in an English language classroom to engage students. Some of the tasks involve using online tools for communication like Voicethread, Voxopop, and Skype. Other tasks have students create content like word clouds, posters, games and stories using tools such as Wordle, Glogster, PowerPoint and Storybird. Many of the tasks encourage collaboration where students share their creations with classmates, provide feedback and help each other practice English.
50 tech tasks for the english language classroom
- 1. 50 “Tech” Tasks For The English Language Classroom 1. Make a voicethread for the class. Go to the class voicethread and introduce yourself. Listen to your classmates talk about themselves. Practice your grammar on Voicethread. 2. Have a conversation with this chat partner. Copy the conversation and present it to the class. 3. Go to Voxopop and answer the teacher’s question. Make your own question to ask the class and post on the class wiki. Explore Voxopop and participate. 4. Send a video email on the topic “______”. Open up a class Gmail account and share the id/pw. Send the emails to this email address and watch everyone’s video email. Also use Vocaroo to make a simple mp3 recording to share with the class. 5. Go to the Language Lab and study with a partner for 30 minutes. Be prepared to share with the teacher what you did. Also try Click N Learn. 6. Go to Wallwisher and make a wall. Brainstorm all you know about topic “____”. Present to the class. Example here. Do the same on Pindax, Corkboard.me or Linoit. 7. Write a letter on Pirate Pad to your classmate(s) about ____________. Share the webpage address with the class and they will help you write and edit it. 8. Go to the sentence scramble maker and make a 10 sentence worksheet. Share the webpage with a classmate who will unscramble the sentences. 9. Play a game of Jeopardy. Students can make a game with a powerpoint template or Quiz Break and share with the class. Example here. 10. Go to EnglishCentral and study this video. Who in the class can get the most points? 11. Interview a classmate using Audioboo. Prepare your questions before the interview. Share the recording with your class. Also use Skype and invite / interview someone from another country to speak to the whole class. Example here. 12. Choose a famous person. Make a Fakebook page for the person. Share. 13. Go to Wordle or Tagxedo and type in the important words from your coursebook. Print and share with the class. Make one about a special topic.
- 2. 14. Create an arcade game in English for your classmates at Class Tools. 15. Write and make a diamant poem to present to the class. Be creative! Create a Flickr Poem and read it to class. 16. DEAR: Drop Everything And Read some ebooks. Also, read interactive books on Tarheel Reader or make your own book there 17. Go to Glogster and make a poster about “___________”. Present it to the class and post on the class wiki. 18. Select a famous person and then see if Akinator can guess him/her! Do the same with an object/thing on 20 questions. 19. Go to Storybird and read some stories created by students. Then, make your own Storybird. 20. Play Pass The Paper and have the class talking, talking, talking…. Example here. 21. Play Draw My Thing – the incredible online Pictionary game. 22. Do a webquest with the class. Students search the web to get the answers to the questions. Lots of info. here. 23. Go to Blabberize and find a photo of a person or animal. Record yourself speaking like this person or animal. 24. Try a Language Starter game. Here’s an example - Tell Us About. 25. Get students enjoying their favorite song and learning English with Lastonestanding 26. In groups or the whole class make a doodle video of a favorite song. Example here. 27. Go to Transl8it.com and copy some of your coursebook text. Challenge a classmate to translate the textmessage version of the text. 28. SAPP (Stop And Play Purposefully). Go the the Learning Arcade or Games pages and play and learn English.
- 3. 29. Write a blog post or diary entry in English each day. Go to Penzu and start writing and sharing beautiful entries. Or create a webpage with Check This or KL1P Also set up 50 free student blogs on Edublogs 30. Students can travel the world and listen to real audio on Woices. Get students to record and share their own geo-specific recording! 31. Go to 5 card Flickr and create a random story. Then tell the story to others in your group or take turns with one student telling for each photo. 32. Share your favorite things online. Create a Popplet and brainstorm around a topic. Or students can use Pinterest to collaborate around a board on a topic. 33. Go To Quizlet, choose a topic and study the visual flashcard vocabulary. Play the games to learn the vocabulary. 34. Get students to make a Fling The Teacher game. Play in class after. Example here. 35. Students watch a How To video on eHow. After, students must explain to another group. Then finish by watching the video again together. 36. Make a Project Peace class video. Use the Peace Song Packs. Spread the word and emotion of peace in the world. 37. Go to Screenr.com . Students make a screencast sharing their favorite webpage. Post up on the class gmail account or wiki. 38. Make a private class Facebook group. Post a debate topic and students can debate a topic there using the comment feature. 39. Watch a silent video and have one student in the group turn their back to the video. The others in the group describe what’s happening in the video. Take turns. 40. Watch any news story. Students listen repeatedly and then try to report what the 5Ws were. Example news story here. 41. Generate a random flickr image with Frig Tool and have students describe it. Or one student describes and the other must draw. Compare the drawing with the original. Example here (refresh the browser for a new image) 42. Use Twitter in your classroom. Favorite ways include using a hashtag and having students play story tag – adding to a story sentence by sentence. Create a backchannel for student comments during class on Today’s Meet.
- 4. 43. Translate with google. Students translate a passage from their native language into English. Then, copy it into google translate and translate. Compare the two English translations. 44. Use Speed Reader. Put text or your course book reading into it and set the speed. Try to keep up the reading for the class or group. Also try Cue Prompter to read the days news like a real anchor person. 45. Use Montage maker. Hide the input and have students “Guess the Google” 46. Practice your English typing/keyboard skills. Try the BBC’s Dance Mat. 47. Textivate. Students load in text from their coursebook and make exercises. Share the link and other students can complete. 48. Watch some Xtranormal videos. Have fun creating an Xtranormal dialogue. Share with the class after. Example here. 49. Create a series of signs with Redkid.net . Share your messages with the class. 50. Sing and learn English. Sign up and sing karaoke with Sing Snap or try the free Lyrics Training. 51. And now that students have done so many “tech” tasks - challenge them to Do Nothing For 2 Minutes.