July 31, 2009

SIGN generator



Time to try out CUSTOM SIGN GENERATOR. Why do I like SIGN GENERATORS so much? Well, we all know how important images are when it comes to teaching, right? So, editing tools can make the pictures you show to students much more interesting.

Let me see what I can do with THIS SITE



  1. Have your face on a magazine cover.
  2. Use your webcam to have your picture appear in silly scenes.
  3. Try out different wigs and hair styles. You can use these pictures to teach vocab about appearance.
  4. You can create postcards w/ your pictures.
  5. Create magazine covers.

July 24, 2009

Interview with WETOKU

I've just read a message in facebook about an interview Nik Peachey had with Graham Stanley from the British Council talking about their work in Second Life. The tool used was WETOKU. I was enchanted by the idea of being able to record an interview with such good quality and then be able to publish it in a blog and even share it in twitter or facebook. FANTASTIC!

PROBLEM: I believe you need an invitation code though (which can be requested in the site).



How can we use this tool with students?

  • interview people from other countries or experts in the area you're studying. Then, publish the interview in a class blog so that you can show it to your students.
  • have sts interview each other as a class project.
Great features: no download is necessary, you can interview , record it and get the embed code all in one place.

July 23, 2009

Comiqs and Pinpix

Wanted to try out two webtools I found recently.

The first one is http://comiqs.com which helps you create comiqs using your own photos. This tool might be really good to create stories. The nice thing is that you can grab the embed code to publish it in blogs. PROBLEM: my pictures were too big for the comic, still haven't figured out how to shrink them in the site.



PINPIX lets you create effects on photos, create a video with pre-selected templates and create slideshows. DISADVANTAGE: There's no embed code for the videos so you can't publish the player online, it only provides you w/ the link. The site is in Portuguese.

This is a Fotopin with a frame and animations from a typical celebration in Brazil in June and July.

July 22, 2009

7th CTJ Seminar



I prepared the blog "Webtools and projects" in April 2009 as a follow-up reference for the 7th CTJ Seminar. Well, things didn't turn out as I expected and unfortunately I wasn't able to present at the seminar. Nevertheless, I'd like to share this list of webtools I had assembled. I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful learning time. The Casa Thomas Jefferson Seminar is one of the best for EFL teachers in Brazil. You can check the program below.

July 14, 2009

Queen of Widgets

If you follow my blog, you might have noticed my love for widgets, these neat applications you can add to the sidebar.

Some people say you have to be careful with the amount of widgets you add to your page so that it doesn´t become too polluted, I say "Try widgets out and keep the ones you find useful. "

I´ve tried an infinity of widgets, some are cute, fun and others are really helpful. You can find widgets for your blog by visiting other blogs, checking out google gadgets, widgetbox, Yahoo widgets and others.

What kind of widgets do I suggest? It depends very much on the kind of blog you have. If you have a professional blog, then keep the widgets to a minimum, practical ones. If you have a class blog, widgets which show different climates, time zones or translation widgets could be useful. If you have a personal blog, then I believe you´re free to choose whatever you like.

Useful widgets

1. Counters - You only believe you have readers once you add a counter to your blog.
http://easy-hit-counters.com/


2. Visitors - discover where your visitors are from and how they have discovered your blog.
You can have the LIVE TRAFFIC FEED or the LIVE TRAFFIC MAP
3. Your ONLINE Production - show your readers your online life in one widget so that your readers can see what you´ve been writing in facebook, twitter, blogger, the videos you´ve been uploading to youtube, pictures you´ve uploaded to flickr and so on.



4. Your Blog Feed - customize a feed to your blog at Widgetbox, you can put it in your sidebar and you can also use it in other blogs so that people can see what you´ve been posting about.


5. Your Blog Roll - show your readers what blogs you normally follow by using a feevy widget.

Fun Widgets for class blogs

1. Show the weather

The WeatherPixie

2. Interesting way of showing the Date




3. Online Dictionary




4. Show your students people from other countries have been visiting their blog.
Locations of visitors to this page


5. Have a chat box in your class blog where students can talk to each other (synchronous voice communication)










6. Have a virtual Host for your class blog. Personalize the weekly messages according to the content you´ve been covering.


Get a Voki now!

July 10, 2009

Create your virtual poster

This is the second time I use GLOGSTER in order to make an online poster. This poster is an example of what you can do with Glogster. You select a background and can add pictures, videos, music, texts, animations.

To view full size: http://anamariacult.glogster.com/glog-1632/

Your Lifestream widget

If you´re active online, you probably do lots of things around the web, using facebook, blip.fm, twitter, blogger, diigo and other sites. Reading a direct message from Terry Freedman about HOW TO EMBED ANYTHING I found out about bringing all your online updates into one widget.

This is how to do it:
- open an account at Friendfeed.
- then click on settings and select the services you would like to import.
- then click on FriendFeed Embed and choose one of the widgets for your blog. I chose the Real-time one.