A presentation of some free web 2.0 tools for EFL teachers

1. Web 2.0
August 12, 2011

2. Web 2.0: Why?
• Traditional use of computers and internet:
• Type a text
• Send an e-mail
• Fill in the blank webpages

3. Web 2.0: Why?
• Variety
• Engagement
• Creativity
• Real language use
• Self study

4. Web 2.0: Where to start?
• Easy to use, free tools:
• Writeboard • Wordle
• Google Wave • Radio Show (Spreaker)
• ABLA Online Blogs • Prezi
• Wikispaces
• Voki

5. Writeboard
Writeboard: www.writeboard.com
This free website can be used by teachers and their students to
create texts or projects. How does it work?
The teacher creates the writeboard and invites students.
Students visit the writeboard at any time (at home or in class) and
reads the material and responds to it in writing within the
writeboard.
This can be used for group journals or for class newspapers or
other types of collaborative writing assignments such as group
stories, projects, additional readings with student comments, group
brainstorming for writing or projects, etc.
www.writeboard.com

6. Writeboard
http://123.writeboard.com/4mokctgl9pv1nsyz
Password: Colombo2011
This writeboard has information about Web 2.0
resources

9. Google Wave
Google Wave: wave.google.com
Google Wave is a version of Gmail, but with a lot more versatility. It
requires that everyone involved have a gmail account in order to
be “linked” together through this on-line application.
It can be used to have live discussions (chats), create documents,
or brainstorming.
Here are some resources that explain how to use Google Wave:
Videos: youtube.com/googlewave
Powerpoint presentation: www.slideshare.net/bartsch
https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=wave&passive=1209600&continue=https://wave.google.c
om/wave/&followup=https://wave.google.com/wave/&ltmpl=tempopensignups2

13. ABLA Online
ABLA Online: www.ablaonline.org
ABLA Online offers:
Courses
Blogs
Chat
www.ablaonline.org

17. Wikispaces
Wikispaces: www.wikispaces.com
Use this webpage to create your own wikis.
Students can use these to collaborate on projects
and share information with classmates.
For the free versions, look for Wikis for K-12 (for
children) and Wikis for Higher Education (for
adults). Both versions are free.
http://www.wikispaces.com/

23. Voki – Make your own avatar
Voki: www.voki.com
For your blog or wiki or even writeboard, you and
your students can add an avatar to add an
additional spoken dimension to the written work.
http://www.voki.com/

27. Wordle
Wordle: www.wordle.net
Wordle is a tool that generates word clouds from any
text. Students can use this to see the development of the
complexity of their written texts.
For beginning students, teachers can use this tool as an
alternative to the scrambled sentence activity, and
students can create their own sentences and scramble
them with wordle to share with others.
www.wordle.net

32. Radio Show
Spreaker: http://www.spreaker.com/
As a class project, students can create their own online radio show
that can be shared with others.
Students can create an account with Spreaker or can log on with
Facebook.
http://www.spreaker.com/

36. Presentations
http://prezi.com
This webpage allows students to create appealing presentations
online.

40. Google Books
Google Books: http://books.google.com
Many classic texts and children’s stories are available on line
through Google Books. Teachers can bring them to class with the
SmartBoard and read them with students (for picture books), or
students can read books outside of class or individually at their
stations.
Free online e-books can also be found at:
http://www.readcentral.com/
http://books.google.com/books

41. Podcasts
Podcasts:
Free listening materials available through different on-line sources.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/
http://www.podcast.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/tae
http://www.eltpodcast.com/
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/podcast.html
http://www.voanews.com/english/podcasts/
http://www.podomatic.com/login (students can make their own
podcasts)
http://www.chirbit.com/ (online recording to make podcasts)

42. Other resources
http://enterthegroup.com/
For group projects: http://www.symbyoz.com/ – True friends do
things together. You can create a project for students to work on
together, each person giving different suggestions and additions to
the central topic. Need facebook account to access Symbyoz.
Free educational software and games: http://www.educational-
freeware.com/
Picturing America – language and culture:
http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/index.php?sec=home

43. Other resources
Bravenet Free Web Tools: http://www.bravenet.com/webtools/
Bravenet offers many free tools that EFL teachers can use, for
example private chat rooms, blogs, vote caster, etc.
Google Blogger http://blogger.google.com
Students can create their own blogs to discuss topics in English
through this Google webpage.
An alternative blogging site is: http://www.tumblr.com

44. Evaluating students
• Before starting any activity using these types of tools, the
teacher needs to have a clear idea of how to evaluate student
participation and work.
• Completion
• Content
• Presentation method
• Clarity
• Teachers should NOT be looking at grammatical problems,
unless they interfere with the communicative purpose of the work.
• It is also possible to use peer feedback and self-evaluation

45. To learn more
Visit Classroom2.0 (http://www.classroom20.com/) to join other
teachers in an exploration of teaching and learning using Web 2.0
tools. This webpage is for all educators, mostly primary and
secondary in the US, but there are discussions, ideas, blogs and
forums which give information about how these tools can be used
in the classroom.
If you want to set up your students with pen pals (key pals), you
can post a message on this website (check out the Beginner
Group). Teachers in the US will be able to respond to your request!