Exploring Easy Web Tools (Wordle, Tagul & Padlet) for Meaningful Classroom Activities and Beyond

Exploring Easy Web Tools for Meaningful
Classroom Activities and Beyond
Nina Septina
ninaseptina2009@gmail.com

Inspired By :
BIG Thanks to Ozge Karaoglu, iTDi and JALT TCSIG!

Presentation Overview
 How to use Wordle & Tagul
 Activities with Wordle & Tagul
 How to use Padlet
 Activities with Padlet
 Quiz

Let’s explore Wordle & Tagul!

Type or paste in a bunch of text

Design your word cloud :
Pick the color

Design your word cloud:
Choose the layout

Choose the font

Language option

Undo / Redo ?

Embed the word cloud into a blog
or a web page

 Type a word more often to look bigger
 Remove common words (& numbers)
 To save the word cloud as a picture, use
the Print Screen button or a screen
capture tool
 Keep words together (compound nouns)
using ~ (tilde)
 Make sure you have Java

Go to http://tagul.com/

Sign Up / Log in
using your existing account

Start typing / importing words

Choose the shape

Chose the font

Pick the color

Save the changes, export the word cloud into
different file formats & share the link

What can we do with word clouds?

Find the Opposites & Synonyms
 Put students in pairs / groups
 Project the word cloud on a class display
 Set a certain time limit
 Ask students to find the matching opposites /
synonyms
 The pair / group that has the most word matchings
wins the game, or...
 Students exchange information with other
pairs/groups to build the whole set of the opposites /
synonyms (information gap activity)

Grammar Reinforcement: Adjectives

Grammar Reinforcement: Adjectives
 Students categorize the adjectives based on the
number of syllables
 Ask them to write the Comparative and
Superlative forms
 Students pick some of the adjectives to make
sentences to describe and compare things
around them

Grammar Reinforcement:
Regular & Irregular Verbs

Identifying Parts of Speech

Identifying Regular & Irregular Verbs and
Parts of Speech
 Distribute copies of the word cloud /project it on a class
display
 Make a chart/table on the board based on word
categories and ask Ss to identify and fill in the columns with
the words that belong to each category
 Ask students to pick some words to create sentences about
themselves (imaginary and/or true facts)
 Share with peers and have students guess whether the
sentences their friends wrote are based on true experiences
or the made-up ones

Song Lyrics
 Before listening : to guess the title or what the
song might be about, to pre teach
vocabulary
Whilst listening : to help Ss find the words they
missed
 After listening : to reflect back and make
sentences using the vocabulary or grammar in
the song, to summarize and retell the song.

Exploring Easy Web Tools (Wordle, Tagul & Padlet) for Meaningful Classroom Activities and Beyond

Memory Game
Other possible topics :
 Parts of the body
 Public places
 Occupations
 Food, fruits & vegetables
 Sports & sport equipment
 Means of transportations
 Countries and nationalities
 Hobbies
 etc

Run and Hit Game
 Display the word cloud on the board or on a class wall
 Put students in groups
 The teacher reads the definition of a word
 Each representative of the group should run to the board
or to the wall and hit / tap the correct word (with their
hand or a fly swatter)
 The fastest one wins some points for his/her group
 Repeat the procedure until all the words have been
mentioned, and students are to take turns representing
their group

Create an Introduction or a Bio

Create an Introduction or a Bio
 Introduction at the first meeting with a class
 Business card design logo
 Embed it into our personal blog / web page
 Use it as a profile picture 
 Students create and use it to do a show & tell
about themselves, or
 Students create it without their names on the
word cloud, submit it to the teacher then play
“Guess Who I Am”

Vocabulary –
Word Categorizing
Ss group the
Animals based
on their
category:
- pets
- zoo animals
- farm animals,
Etc
They could
also add more
animals which
are not listed
on the word
cloud.
Ss then tell
their favorite
animals by
making the
gestures of the
animals for the
class to guess.

Ss list down
the words
into each
category:
- positive
traits
- negative
traits
-Neutral
Ss pick 3
adjectives
that best
describe
them, share
with the
class and
add more
information
about
them.
Vocabulary -
Word Categorizing
Photo: Wordle: an easy way to start/review the lesson, by MissLala
http://lia-liasemarangcandi.blogspot.com/2014/07/wordle-easy-way-to-start-review-lesson.html

Vocabulary -
Word Categorizing Ss divide the
words into
categories:
- hair
- build
- face
- skin color
- other
Use the
Vocabulary
learned to
describe
themselves, their
friends or famous
people
Photo: Wordle: an easy way to start/review the lesson, by MissLala
http://lia-liasemarangcandi.blogspot.com/2014/07/wordle-easy-way-to-start-review-lesson.html

Create Cards
- Ss create a (birthday/thank you)card and send it to their beloved
ones on their special day
- Put Ss in pairs, ask them to create a postcard thanking their partner
for being a good friend and they are to exchange the cards with
each other (or they could ask each other’s address and send the
card by postal service)

Class Collaborative Thinking / Poll
eg. class expectation

Class Collaborative Thinking
-eg. class expectation
 Have students write a reflection to a class discussion or an
answer to a similar topic. For example, “Please describe a
group of classmates that you could learn English well with.
What would you all do to help each other learn better and
more enjoyably?”
 Combine all students’ writings into a word cloud
 What further reflections or discussions can be made?
 Optional: reproduce it in posters to display on the class walls
as a way to reinforce the content.
Adapted from : Murphey, T. &Iswanti S. (2014). Surprising humanity! Comparing ideal
classmates in two countries. ETAS Journal, 31(2) Spring, 33-35.

Reading Comprehension
Before reading: Guess the title, the
topic, which chapter comes first, pre-teach
vocabulary
After reading: Ask who the characters
are, summarize or retell the chapters,
predict what will happen in the next
chapter, pick some words from the word
cloud and ask Ss to create sentences
(about themselves) using the words

Class Posters – Review of Units Learned
Wonders of Wordle by Michael Fisher
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jslE4ISG2nw

Padlet – go to http://padlet.com/

Write the title or the basic info / theme of your wall

Enable email notification (Y/N)

Share the link & export the wall into different
file formats

Post - listening (to a song) task
What do you think of
this song (Brave), and
what moral lesson can
you take from this
song?
Write down the things
you'd like to be brave
about in the next few
months.
An activity by Tim Murphey

Show (the video) & tell
Students learn to
describe their
lovely moments by
first showing them
an Animoto video
which is uploaded
on a class padlet
wall, then further tell
the class about the
photos in the video
by using the
grammar and
vocabulary learned.

Students' Dream Countries/Cities
Writing assignment
Topic : beautiful places all over the world / travelling.
>> Ss sharethe class their dream city / country and the reason why they want
to go there and what activities they can do there.

Share Who/What Students Love the Most
After Ss learn
about adjective
clauses, ask them
to create a
sentence using
an adjective
clause to share
with the class
what or who they
love the most.

Class Favourite Quotes
Lesson focus:
Direct vs Indirect speech
-As a home assignment, ask Ss to post their
favorite quote on the wall
- In class, ask them to change these quotes
into indirect speech
- Next, they exchange experiences and
stories about why they love these quotes, and
in what way these quotes have affected their
lives

Class Story Project
A joint text (story)
construction
between teacher
and Ss
- Post a sentence or
two to begin the
story
-Ss continue adding
to teacher’s
sentence(s)
- Number the Ss to
assign order for
taking turns
creating and
posting the
sentences on the
wall

Capture Important Class Moments
(Class Photo Album)

Collaborative Project Between Countries

Guess what the object is used for ?

Collaborative Project Between Countries
 Students discuss unique and interesting activities or
objects found in their culture (that people from another
culture may not easily recognize)
 Students then take a photograph of the object or activity
they have chosen.
 Students post the photo on the Padlet wall and ask
students in the partner country to guess what the object is
used for, or in the case of an activity, ask what people are
doing and why
 Want to collaborate? Drop me a message ;)
This activity is adapted from an intercultural exchange by Indonesian & Japanese students done
in 2011 - Bray, E. & NurIswanti, S. (2013). Japan–Indonesia intercultural exchange in a Facebook
Group. The Language Teacher 37 (2) 29-34

Make Connection with Parents, Showcase of
Students' Activities in class

Make Connection with Parents, Showcase of
Students' Activities in class
This project aims to improve students’ language development by
intensifying their learning through making video recordings of students'
activities available for students to watch at home with parents.
These videos served as a reinforcement of lessons discussed in class
which could be watched and repeated at their convenience at home
offering more exposure to English as well as creating a memorable
learning experience for the students.
Parents are invited to take part as co-learners to attend students when
watching the recordings at home. They could give their children
encouragement to participate more and perform better while at the same
time they could follow their children's progress.
Septina, N. & Murphey, T. (2013). Language performance videoing for home viewing.
PeerSpectives10 pp. 21-27.

Send Birthday Wishes /Thank You Notes to
Students/Colleagues

Class Question Board
Students can post any
questions about the units
discussed, homework
assignments, or class
schedule.
The teacher will get the
notification by email.
By putting the questions on
the wall, all other students
can see and get the
information as well.

Class Feedback Forum
- What do you
think of the
activity?
- What do you
like/don’t like?
- How can you
make it better?
-What do you
already Know
about the topic?
- What do you
Want to know?
-What have you
Learned from the
Topic?

What Students Say about Padlet
 It’s quite practical in terms of keeping
and submitting the work as it's just one
click away to the link given
 When I'm doing my writing assignment, I
also enjoy reading my friends' posts
 By reading and learning some examples
from my friends' posts, I can create my
post more easily

QUIZ
1. Give an example
how you would
use Padlet or word
cloud in your
teaching context.
2. Make a word
cloud out of your
bio and post either
the image or the
link here.
http://padlet.com/ninaseptina2009/iTDiMOOCTeacher

Let’s get connected, share, learn
and inspire!
http://itdi.pro
https://www.facebook.com/nina.septina

Exploring Easy Web Tools (Wordle, Tagul & Padlet) for Meaningful Classroom Activities and Beyond

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