【Useful websites for English teaching & learning】

Some useful websites for English learning and teaching:  

1. 線上班級小考: socrative (http://www.socrative.com/)
2. 線上自學單字: memrise (http://www.memrise.com/home/)
3. 多媒體製作：
a. Wevideo (https://www.wevideo.com/)
b. Youtube 直播 (遠距教學用)
4. 線上聊天室：
TodaysMeet (https://todaysmeet.com/ 真人互相聊天)
A.L.I.C.E. (http://alice.pandorabots.com/ 和AI聊天)
5. 自製美麗繪本：Storybird (https://storybird.com/)
6. 自製漫畫：ToonDoo (http://www.toondoo.com/)
7. 即時民調：
a. Kahoot (T: https://getkahoot.com/; Ss: https://kahoot.it/)
b. Poll Everywhere (https://pollev.com/)

【A thought-provoking article on education: A Good Read!!! 】

密涅瓦大學　橫跨七國，最強實習生

精華簡文

http://www.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=5079333#

圖片來源：黃明堂

密涅瓦大學　橫跨七國，最強實習生

作者：程晏鈴 2016-11-10 天下雜誌610期

調整字體尺寸

這所大學沒有教室、沒有校園，透過視訊上課，就讓學生在大一收到臉書、蘋果、亞馬遜的實習邀請。成立僅4年的密涅瓦大學，成功穿梭線上線下的祕密是什麼？

怎麼解決加州缺乏水資源的危機？這是密涅瓦大學（Minerva University）大一新生在課堂上被問到的問題。

「我們要知道人們真正的需求是什麼，但真的很難，」金髮飄逸、來自加州聖荷西的阿馬爾笑著，眼光飄向身旁同是大一新生，來自非洲衣索比亞的努哈明。

把真實世界的難題丟到課堂，透過即時互動和討論，每個學生都要發言、思考，這是密涅瓦大學最大的特色。

二○一二年成立的密涅瓦大學，位於舊金山最熱鬧的市中心市場街上。一走出電梯，五顏六色的便利貼牆映入眼簾。但密涅瓦大學的佔地，只有一整層辦公室。目光所及的開放空間，是近五十位電腦工程師在工作，比起學校，更像新創公司。

沒有教室、校園，也幾乎沒學生，因為密涅瓦所有課程都在學校建立的線上「主動學習平台」（Active Learning Forum）進行，學生可以在沙灘、咖啡館、或任何有網路連結的地方上課。

甚至可以更遠。學生第一年在舊金山總部學習基礎核心課程，剩下的六個學期分別前往六個城市，包括英國倫敦、德國柏林、韓國首爾、印度班加羅爾、阿根廷布宜諾斯艾利斯和台北上課，「學生有九三％的時間不在教室，培養學生在不同城市、不同文化的生存能力，」密涅瓦創辦人尼爾森（Ben Nelson）說。

這樣的模式在去年，吸引一萬六千人申請，錄取三百人，錄取率一．九％，全美最低。

單向授課，哪能獨立思考？

尼爾森今年四十一歲，他不到三十歲就創業，成為矽谷著名網路照片分享公司Snapfish總裁，公司後來被惠普併購。一二年從創業圈走進教育圈，距離看似很遠，但對常春藤名校賓州大學華頓商學院畢業的尼爾森來說，改革高等教育體制，已刻不容緩。

「現在大學只有兩種，一個是以為大學是職業訓練所，一個是以為大學『由你玩四年』，是時候改變我們對大學的想像，」他提高音量，重申大學的角色應該提供每個學生系統性知識架構與基礎，對社會、科學問題做出判斷與決策。

知識基礎指的是批判思考、創意思考、有效的溝通和互動能力，全都是密涅瓦大學大一新生的必修課程，「每個大學都說自己在培養這些能力，還要培育學生成為國際公民，卻侷限在校園、單向授課，他們根本不知道怎麼做，」尼爾森苦笑。

密涅瓦大學將這些能力拆解為一百二十種思惟習慣和基礎概念，建構一個人如何看待世界的方式。學生透過四年學習到的跨學科內容，作為接觸這些概念的媒介，有意識地不斷重複練習，直到成為習慣，才能真正將語言應用到學習的科目或主修上。

「我們早上的課就討論了三十二次的創意思考，我以為創意無法教，那是聰明人才有的能力，可是在這裡，我學會如何思考，」努哈明說。在他的故鄉衣索比亞，教學模式也是為考試、為分數而學習，厭倦單向授課模式的努哈明特別興奮地說，最重要的還是學會在討論中，學習傾聽別人的意見。

不用考試，也能追蹤學生表現

密涅瓦大學有超過三百個學生，四十位授課教授，平均每堂課是十四到十八人，「教學方法證明，這種規模的班級，學生學習效果最好，」密涅瓦大學亞洲區副總裁羅凱（Kenn Ross）強調。

雖說是線上課程，但上課方式又不同於網路上的課程，他們強調多元背景的互動。視訊上課時，學生會隨機分組討論專案，教授也會在特定議題上丟出問題，每位學生都要即時回答，教授可以看到每個人的發言和臉部表情，並回饋意見給學生。

重點在於，即時回饋系統完整記錄師生在課堂上的互動，老師可以在課後針對個別學生給予意見。雖然沒有考試，但四年下來，累積超過幾千次的評量，包括作業、專案和上課表現，更能追蹤學生是否真的將知識基礎應用在課堂上。

除了顛覆空間，密涅瓦的核心課程更打破科系。攤開密涅瓦的課表，電腦科學結合人工智慧和機器人學，人文藝術科系結合商業管理產生「藝術與經貿」。

「我們不知道未來工作的樣貌，因為學生不是要為未來的『工作』做準備，是要自己設計未來（design the future），」電腦科學系主任荷曼（Rich Holman）說得自信。

學生設計課程　老師幫你實現

在密涅瓦大學，學生可以兩、三個人設計課程，找教授討論，就成為一門課，「完全不是依照教授的研究興趣設計課程，」荷曼解釋。而電腦科學的相關課程，每年跟著產業趨勢改變，也有跨領域的課程，例如人工智慧、機器人、大數據分析或決策科學（decision science），學生直接在企業面前做簡報，強調應用。

對密涅瓦大學而言，未來人才要培養適應現實社會的技能，邁向「社區學習應用」是必然。密涅瓦因此設計出以城市為基準的學習活動（local-based activity），要求學生以城市為主題做專案，和非政府組織（NGO）合作。

暑期實習也是走入真實世界的一環。密涅瓦為學生的職涯建立專責諮詢機構。「傳統大學職涯中心是一個老師對一萬個學生，我們是一個老師和一百五十個學生諮詢，」負責學生職涯的寇絲（Anne Kauth）解釋，每個學生都想去大企業，必須一對一和學生討論興趣與實習的原因，追蹤學生在學校的評量表現，媒合學生和適當的企業與部門。

光是去年，密涅瓦大學就有八七％的大一學生去實習，去的是臉書、蘋果、亞馬遜、Uber、Airbnb、Yahoo、Dalberg設計公司等。研究機構則有加州理工學院、史丹佛、奧斯汀大學和聖塔菲研究所。很多機構都是第一次收大學生，更有學生在實習後收到三年後的正職邀請。

「矽谷不缺只想中樂透的人，但只要一成的企業或學生關注長期問題，就可能扭轉未來的趨勢，」沉吟許久，尼爾森希望在這裡，每個學生都能成為改變世界的人才。

免考試、免檢定，只看才華

密涅瓦大學（Minerva University）在2012年由尼爾森（Ben Nelson）創辦，隸屬於美國加州的凱克研究所（Keck Graduate Institute,KGI），沒有實體校園與教室，主打線上學習和跨國移動。

學生在大學4年可以到7個國家學習，並和各城市不同的研究機構與大學實驗室合作。學費加上住宿，1年1萬美元，與美國公立大學學費相去不遠。密涅瓦大學學歷受到美國教育部和中國教育部承認。明年將推出研究所計劃，但是只邀請密涅瓦大學認為符合資格的學生。

不同於傳統大學，密涅瓦有一套篩選學生的標準，不需要準備SAT（美國大學入學考試），也不需要托福、GRE等外語能力鑑定，申請者必須填妥線上申請書，申請過程全部免費。

過程分為三個階段，第一階段是自我介紹以及檢視過去高中3年的學業成績。第二階段是測驗申請者的潛力，必須思考不同面向的問題。第三階段就是附上過去完成的事蹟，可以是專題、影片、小說或是其他活動，其中花了7年拍紀錄片《學習的理由》的台灣導演楊逸帆，也是今年申請上密涅瓦大學的新生之一。

- See more at: http://www.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=5079333#sthash.ue5h0qoz.dpuf

10 Online Resources to Improve EL Literacy (E-book resources)

http://blog.tesol.org/10-online-resources-to-improve-el-literacy/

10 Online Resources to Improve EL Literacy

Posted on 24 March 2016 by Judie Haynes

Many elementary school ESL teachers are now looking at materials for their 2016–2107 classroom. During a recent #ELLCHAT   discussion, we shared ideas for choosing materials for ELs. One of the liveliest discussions was about online resources.

I’d like to share some online resources that feature books for children and really work well for ELs. The best books sites for  ELs have an audio component, and the words are highlighted as they are read. If your budget is limited, some of these sites are free.

Fiction Resources

1. EPIC is a free website for U.S. and Canadian-based elementary teachers. It contains 1,000 books for students in grades pre-K–6 and features an audio component. It is a great resources for ELs.
2. Tumblebook Library is an online collection of books for elementary-age students. The books are animated with sound and narration. There is a charge for the Tumblebook Library, and subscriptions are generally purchased for a whole school district. The selection and quality of books is outstanding and a great source of books for ELs.
3. Starfall is a website that is widely used by ESL teachers to help young ELs (pre-K–2) learn to read. I especially like the I’m Reading section of the site. There is a free section that allows membership for a whole class.
4. Raz-Kids is a great resource for books online for students in grades pre-K–5. This is not a free resource, but it is well worth the moderate cost.
5. Storyline Online contains a collection of books narrated by well-known actors who are members of the Screen Actors Guild/AFTRA. The books are good for ELs in grades pre-K–4. I recommend that teachers preview the books first to determine the language level. The books are free online, but schools can purchase an activity guide to go with the books. However, there is no feature that underlines the text as it is read.
6. Unite for Literacy contains books for very young students (pre-K–2). There is an audio component with narration in English and a dozen other languages. This site does not have a feature where words are highlighted as they are read.

I also want to mention another site that is just for teachers. ReadWorks is a site dedicated to helping teachers improve their students’ reading comprehension. It has detailed lesson plans for teaching books to students in grades K–6. Schools would need to buy paper copies of the books to be used in the classroom.

Nonfiction Resources

I would also like to include these online articles that can be adapted for ELs in Grades K–12. These resources do not include an audio component, but are written on different lexile levels.

7. Newslea takes news articles from around the world and rewrites them at up to five different lexile levels and in Spanish. This is an excellent resource for ELs in Grades 4–12.
8. TweenTribune from the Smithsonian offers a variety of topics such as animals, art, culture, sports, and science. Articles are written at up to 9 lexile levels for ELs in K–12.
9. National Geographic online versions of nonfiction readers with an audio component is suitable for young ELs, Grades 1–3 .
10. Time for Kids contains news articles for elementary-age students (Grades 3–8). The audio news reports are too fast for ELs, but many of the articles are appropriate for more advanced ELs. I especially like the homework helper section that helps students write in different genres.

In my next blog, I will discuss apps for ELs that help build literacy. Stay tuned to hear about Little Bird Tales, Mindsnacks, and Shadow Puppet, among others.

About Judie Haynes

Judie Haynes taught elementary ESL for 28 years and has been providing professional development for teachers of ELs around the United States since 2008. She is the author and coauthor of seven books for teachers of ELs , the most recent being “The Essential Guide for Educating Beginning English Learners“ with Debbie Zacarian. She is founder of the website everythingESL.net and was a columnist for the TESOL publication "Essential Teacher." She is also cofounder and comoderator of the Twitter Chat for teachers of English learners #ELLCHAT.

View all posts by Judie Haynes →

- See more at: http://blog.tesol.org/10-online-resources-to-improve-el-literacy/#sthash.YQehWZzV.dpuf

https://www.getepic.com/educators

http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2014/09/24/epic/

Epic! presents a gift for educators

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014 BY JOYCE VALENZA 3 COMMENTS

This week Epic! offered classroom teachers and school librarians in the U.S. and Canada free, forever, single subscription access to its iPad app, an “ever-growing library of high-quality children’s books from some of the world’s best publishers.”

Epic! calls itself the first “All-You-Can-Read” eBook service for kids.  It currently offers thousands of digital titles from 40 publishing partners, including HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, National Geographic, Kids Can Press, Blue Apple Books. The growing digital collection of titles for ages 2 through 12 includes many recent and award-winning books and represents a mix of fiction and nonfiction. New titles are added each week.

Among the popular fiction and series titles available are: Olivia, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Berenstain Bears, The Chronicles of Narnia, Ramona, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Flat Stanley, Scaredy Squirrel and Big Nate.  There’s a wealth of high quality attractive nonfiction and graphic novels as well.

I chatted with Suren Markosian, founder and CEO, whose earlier projects included the social gaming platform, CrowdStar for Facebook and mobile devices, and with co-founder, Kevin Donahue, former YouTube, Google and Disney executive.

Suren and Kevin shared that their principal goal is to provide kids with an unlimited reading experience at home. Suren described the origins of the app:

We built a lot of games and realized how accessible games are. I watched my son play all the games he wanted, but he couldn’t just go and read any book he wanted.  Games and videos were a tap away. Books were not.  As a a parent, I had to buy each individual book for my son.  There was a wall between kids and books.

So we put our skill set to it and we started with the consumer market, because we understand it and because we are parents.

We wanted to provide a digital library from a child’s perspective. We wanted kids to have access to a large collection of books–to be able to see all the books. Books are suggested to children based on what what we know about them and the service gets better as it gets to better know better the reader. We built the app with engagement in mind. We reward kids’ reading with badges. The goal is to provide a wide variety of high-quality titles from award-winning authors that complement the curriculum and encourage a child’s love of reading.

The consumer product is kind of Netflix for picture books, with an unlimited library of content, instantly streamed, available on a monthly basis, following a 30-day free trial.

Books are vetted by a team of publishing professionals, educators and children’s literature specialists, as well as a Newbery Award-winning author.  

Users can search for titles or browse the collection by book category: picture books, chapter books, early readers, fact books, or comic books and filter by age groups: 4 & under, 5-7, 8-10, 11-12.

Books stream and deliver to the iPad in an instantaneous fashion, caching data on the device.  You simply click on a book and read it or hear it.  Books may be completely downloaded for use offline when no wireless is available. Once downloaded, the book stays on your device.

In the consumer version, children set up a profile, customize the site, create reading logs, rate and favorite titles, and unlock reading badges.  Subscribers may create multiple profiles, so that a parent might create individual reading profiles for up to four child readers. No personally identifiable information is collected.

While Epic! is primarily geared (and reasonably priced) for home use, its founders see offering the service to educators as a win/win.

Suren noted that the team received many requests from teachers.

Of course, we recognized them as core influencers. We realized that by helping educators, not only could we get our product out there, we could also do something good. We want this to be a great product for librarians and teachers and we think there is great benefit to using it in schools.

Kevin added

We hope that in sharing with teachers we will discover what educators are looking for.  We welcome feedback and recommendations.  

They suggest use of the Epic! app to:

• “check out” books without spending any money before deciding to purchase for a classroom or school library’s print collection.
• enjoy an ever-growing digital library with thousands of picture books, chapter books, early readers, nonfiction books and graphic novels completely (and always) free of charge.

Important: Classroom teachers and school librarians may take advantage of the free offer by first registering on the Epic! for Educators website and entering their school credentials.  Following this website registration, teachers will get a username and password. They should go to the app store and download the app.  Note: If you don’t get your credentials first, you will automatically get the 30-day free consumer trial.

What’s coming next?

The app is currently available for iPad only.  An iPhone app will be available in early November and an Android app should be available in December.  The team hopes to grow its personalized discovery engine around human-curated decisions as well as its algorithm.

Kevin is hoping for more author interaction: Publishers are looking for ways to get their ebooks out there. We speak to the authors all the time and they are thrilled that kids are finding their books.  We hope to create more engagement by providing authors a way to interact with kids. 

The way I see it, our use of Epic! for Educators will help build the market for a worthy app. The way I see it is we are on the same team and this gift presents a win/win.

I can absolutely imagine this app inspiring shared reading experiences on screens and whiteboards in classrooms and school libraries. It will also help us discover new titles and promote discovery of our own physical and ebook collections.

I just kinda wish this endorsement didn’t appear in their marketing and that I could convince Cool Mom Tech that her kiddos’ librarians will add significant value to their reading experience.

Cool Mom Tech: If your kid is an avid reader—as in, he finishes his library books before he even gets them home from school—you may want to check out the “Epic!” app, a new eBook subscription for kids in one handy app that that offers all-you-can-read selections for a low monthly fee.  No purchasing book after book. And no overdue fees from the library.

5 Great Writing Activities from Read Write Think

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2016/03/5-great-writing-activities-from-read.html#.VvXvteJ97IU

MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016

5 Great Writing Activities from Read Write Think

Over the years Read Write Think has published dozens of excellent templates and tools for elementary school language arts lessons. Five of my favorite Read Write Think activities are featured below.

Read Write Think offers a good interactive guide that can help students craft a good persuasive essay. The Persuasion Map asks students to start with a thesis statement before walking them through developing support for that thesis. Students can print their persuasion maps or email them to you. RWT offers a number of lesson plans that incorporate the Persuasion Map. You can find those lessons here.

Essay Map provides students with step by step guidance in the construction of an informational essay. Some of my students seem to struggle most with constructing an introduction and conclusion to their essays. Essay Map is particularly good for helping students visualize the steps needed to construct good introductory and conclusion paragraphs. After students complete all of the steps in their Essay Map they can print their essay outlines.

Alphabet Organizer is a great little tool from Read Write Think that students can use to create alphabet charts and books. The idea behind Alphabet Organizer is to help students make visual connections between letters of the alphabet and the first letter of common words. In the video below I demonstrate how to use this tool.



RWT Timeline is available as a web app (Flash required), as an Android app, and as an iPad app. All three versions make it easy for students to create a timeline for a series of events. In the video below I demonstrate how to use the web version of the RWT Timeline creation tool.



RWT's Animal Inquiry guide is a good fit for elementary school science lessons. Animal Inquiry provides students with four templates; animal facts, animal babies, animal interactions, and animal habitats. Each template is an interactive template in which students respond to three prompts to help them create short reports about animals they are studying. Read Write Think suggests using the questions in the Animal Inquiry template as prompts for research. The questions in the templates could also be good for helping students brainstorm additional questions to research.

【English Grammar Learning: Freebies】

http://www.allthingsgrammar.com/grammar-city-free-grammar-board-game.html

This website contains many freebies pertaining to English grammar. Teachers could download the files directly from the website !  Highly recommend !!!