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What is Second Life?



Second Life is not a game, it is a virtual world.

Preparing Students For Cambridge FCE Exam

Preparing Students For Cambridge FCE Exam:

"Preparing ESL students for exams is like making a cake. You need the right amount of ingredients to make it work otherwise you’re left with a bit of a mess.

Having the right ingredients means doing some research, having the right equipment and knowing the methodology. If like me you have students who are sitting FCE then you’ll know you’re in for some hard work. If on the other hand this is your first experience with the First Certificate in English (FCE) then let me give you a quick overview of what students are facing..."

The Future of Learning, Networked Society


"Can ICT redefine the way we learn in the Networked Society? Technology has enabled us to interact, innovate and share in whole new ways. This dynamic shift in mindset is creating profound change throughout our society. The Future of Learning looks at one part of that change, the potential to redefine how we learn and educate. Watch as we talk with world renowned experts and educators about its potential to shift away from traditional methods of learning based on memorization and repetition to more holistic approaches that focus on individual students' needs and self expression."

I couldn't believe my eyes | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC

I couldn't believe my eyes | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC:

"In this activity the teacher creates situations for the students to get plenty of practice with the form and meaning of the past perfect."

The Finland Phenomenon

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Subtitulado en español:

Sadness and Chocolate

Source: asset.soup.io via Pilar on Pinterest


Find more in my "Harry Potter" Pinterest board:

Teacher Survival Kit for Classroom Management: 10+ Tips & Resources



Teacher Survival Kit for Classroom Management: 10+ Tips & Resources:
"The first day with a new class often dictates what the rest of the year will be like. If we start the learning journey well with our learners then we can look forward to what the year ahead will bring. However, we must show our learners how to act in order to have a successful journey. How our learners approach that journey- their attitudes and behaviors- will determine if they end the journey better individuals than they were before they entered our classrooms. Even though classroom management isn’t adequately taught in most teacher development programs, I think it is one of the most important skills for a teacher."
http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/2012/08/10/teacher-survival-kit-for-classroom-management-10-tips-resources/

Google+ Hangouts now have Live Captioning

"Google+ Hangouts are quickly becoming a very good way to communicate with lots of different people.  They've recently opened up their Hangout OnAir Live function that lets anyone start a broadcast, via their hangout.  Which includes professional Lower Thirds, and other fun stuff.

They also released an add-on for Live Captioning.  Here's the post from Google+"

7 Ways to Engage Students with Writing – SimpleK12

7 Ways to Engage Students with Writing – SimpleK12:
"Peer Editing: Create a peer editing checklist and let students review each other’s work. NOTE: be sure to establish ground rules about positive constructive criticism and honesty. You may want to go so far as to mix the papers up yourself and then redistribute them randomly before pairing students up together.

Highlighting: Students of all ages love to highlight! Allow them to highlight certain aspects of their papers that you deem important. The focus can change as you review different writing skills. (Think: they can highlight all transitions, or their details, or their topic sentence, or all adjectives, etc.)

Showcasing: Choose a few anonymous papers to use for student review. (Think: a great paper, an OK paper, and a not-so-good paper) Scan in student papers to show through a projector (Smart Board or Promethean Board). Or, if your school lacks this technology, run off enough copies for each student to write on…"

Literacy in a Networked Society



"Rhonda Lowry explains identity in the digital age through her own avatar, Grace McDunnough, who is a well-known musical performer in Second Life. Thank you to Turner Studios for providing in-kind video production services for TEDxAtlanta."

Fashion Show Rubric

All Writing

450 Creative Writing Prompts
http://busyteacher.org/creative_writing_prompts_part_one.html
http://busyteacher.org/creative_writing_prompts_part_two.html
http://busyteacher.org/creative_writing_prompts_part_three.html
http://busyteacher.org/creative_writing_prompts_part_four.html
http://busyteacher.org/creative_writing_prompts_part_five.html
http://busyteacher.org/creative_writing_prompts_part_six.html
http://busyteacher.org/creative_writing_prompts_part_seven.html
http://busyteacher.org/creative_writing_prompts_part_eight.html
http://busyteacher.org/creative_writing_prompts_part_nine.html

What You Can Do With Writing Prompts
http://busyteacher.org/9452-creative-writing-prompts-part-one.html
http://busyteacher.org/9731-creative-writing-prompts-part-two.html
http://busyteacher.org/9808-writing-prompts-part-three.html
http://busyteacher.org/9880-writing-prompts-part-four-types-of-essays.html
http://busyteacher.org/10146-creative-writing-prompts-part-five-elements-story.html

Story Prompts [495 Story Elements: Settings, Characters, Situations, Objects, Times]
http://busyteacher.org/6641-story-prompts-495-story-elements.html

88 Creative Writing Prompts worksheets
http://busyteacher.org/classroom_activities-writing/esl-creative-writing-prompts-worksheets/

331 Writing worksheets
http://busyteacher.org/classroom_activities-writing-worksheets/

6 Sure-fire Ways to Help Your ESL Students Improve Their Writing
busyteacher.org/8771-6-ways-help-esl-students-improve-writing.html

Outline for a Five-Paragraph Essay
http://busyteacher.org/6729-outline-for-a-five-paragraph-essay-.html

How to Teach Argumentative Essay Writing
http://busyteacher.org/9359-how-to-teach-argumentative-essay-writing.html

Opinion Essay Writing
http://busyteacher.org/8578-opinion-essay-writing.html

It Is Not About the Gadgets - Why Every Teacher Should Have to Integrate Tech Into Their Classroom

It Is Not About the Gadgets - Why Every Teacher Should Have to Integrate Tech Into Their Classroom:

"We cannot afford to not focus on proper technology integration in our schools. It is not about the gadgets, it is not about the typing, it is how to use technology tools fearlessly, respectfully, and effectively. All things every teachers should be teaching, no excuses."

Educational uses of SL



Several videos about educational uses of Second Life.

Perfectionist Traits - Ten Telltale Traits of a Perfectionist

Perfectionist Traits - Ten Telltale Traits of a Perfectionist:

"If you’re wondering whether or not you’re a perfectionist, there’s a good chance you are one, at least to a degree. (Take The Perfectionism Quiz if you want to know for sure.) Perfectionists are a lot like high achievers, but with some key differences. These differences are important, as perfectionists tend to experience more stress! The following are ten telltale traits of perfectionists. Do any of these sound familiar?
All-Or-Nothing Thinking:
Perfectionists, like high achievers, tend to set high goals and work hard toward them. However, a high achiever can be satisfied with doing a great job and achieving excellence (or something close), even if their very high goals aren’t completely met. Perfectionists will accept nothing less than, well, perfection. ‘Almost perfect’ is seen as failure."

Top 10 Ways to Assess Your Students

Top 10 Ways to Assess Your Students:

"Part of teaching is assessment. Colleges offer entire courses on ways to assess students of English. It is easy, however, for teachers to get stuck in a rut of assessment.

If you are looking for a new way to assess your students or just want a reminder of some oldies but goodies, read on for a look at ten of the most popular ways to assess ESL students."

Too Loud To Be Heard: Handling Noise Levels in Your ESL Classroom

Too Loud To Be Heard: Handling Noise Levels in Your ESL Classroom:

"While ESL classes should encourage students to speak English, you also need to maintain an environment in which everyone can be heard. Depending on the activities you choose to do in class and the nature of your students, keeping noise levels reasonable can be challenging especially with younger students.

Ideally your classroom will be an area in which everyone can participate and students listen respectfully to one another. Let’s talk about some ways to achieve this."

When Things Go Wrong: How to Turn a Disaster ESL Lesson into a Triumph

When Things Go Wrong: How to Turn a Disaster ESL Lesson into a Triumph:

"It happens to even the best teachers: a well thought out, carefully planned lesson goes horribly wrong and you are stuck in the middle of class with confused, frustrated, and disengaged learners.

Students can react to material in different ways than you anticipated and new activities may take less time, be more challenging, or not work out quite the way you expected. Never continue following a lesson plan that is failing. This will only waste everyone’s time and students will not get the most out of their lesson with you. It is hard to think of new ideas and come up with an alternate plan during a lesson but this is the best course of action."

What You Can Do With a Song: 5 Creative ESL Listening Activities

What You Can Do With a Song: 5 Creative ESL Listening Activities:

"Practicing listening skills in class can be a real drag to a student, marking the correct answer in their workbook, while listening to repetitive dialogues voiced by the same people, over and over again. This is where the student’s mind begins to shut down and take a five-minute breather, and whatever happening outside captures their wandering attention.

Listening involves a great deal of concentration, and so when the brain has switched off and gone for lunch, the listening skills follow suit.

How can teachers avoid this from happening, you ask?

Well, the answer is simple. Why not try something a little different. Think outside of the box and provide the students with something that you may not have tried before.

Songs provide a great alternative to listening tasks, as they are effectively the same dull listening exercises, but dressed in disguise as something that’s entertaining and fun.

Another reason why songs are great in the classroom is that they can be used as part of an entertaining and amusing, yet thoroughly educational warmer that will set right tone for the remainder of the lesson.

You don’t have to do a song and dance about it? Just a song on its own would be fine, thank you.

Adding the occasional song along with an accompanied activity to your class every once in a while, you’re giving the students more variety in the class. This keeps their attention towards you, their brain’s switched on and a stronger ability to listen for detail in the long run.

Here’s some creative activities that are aimed to not only entertain students, but to inspire and educate as well."

Head in the Clouds? Ten Free Web 2.0 Tools to Support Faculty Research - Faculty Focus | Faculty Focus

Head in the Clouds? Ten Free Web 2.0 Tools to Support Faculty Research - Faculty Focus | Faculty Focus:

"Increasingly more researchers are integrating Web 2.0 technologies with research methods (data driven instruction) as they examine barriers and potential solutions for systemic issues in their individual educational practice. However, while there are a multitude of tools, which tools are appropriate?

Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of web development and design that facilitates communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A central characteristic of Web 2.0 or “Cloud Computing” is the ability of the users to own and exercise control over the data on the web (Page & Ali, 2009). Web 2.0 tools are enabling people from the distant corners of the globe to effectively communicate and construct knowledge, troubleshoot common enigmas, and collaborate in ways that give their previously unheard voice more than a mere echo or some false illusion of truth on the horizon."

50 Awesome Classroom Management Tips You Can Use Tomorrow

50 Awesome Classroom Management Tips You Can Use Tomorrow:

"Personal tips for effective classroom management

Find out who you are as a person; find your strengths, weaknesses, and how your chemistry works with others
Pay attention at all times
Keep your word
Be excited about teaching what you teach
Study leadership and be a leader
Accept responsibility for everything that happens in your classroom, whether good or bad
Assume the role of a captain of your classroom and be in control at all times"

How to embed a video into a PowerPoint presentation and package it within a SINGLE PowerPoint file | freewaregenius.com

How to embed a video into a PowerPoint presentation and package it within a SINGLE PowerPoint file | freewaregenius.com:

"The Method: in a nutshell, convert your video to a flash (SWF) file, then embed the file within your PowerPoint presentation. Embedded flash objects will be saved within the PowerPoint file itself, and will play as video. The original video does not need to be placed in the same directory as the PowerPoint file. Problem solved!"