Planning a "Blended" curriculum: Give students wings!

You all know how much I love technology in the classroom, not because it is a gimmick but because it genuinely spices up my teaching, saves me lots of time and most importantly, it is a great tool to practise key structures, in many different ways, which equals to lots of retrieval practice and stickability, in all the stages of the learning journey. Finally, it allows me to take languages outside the classroom and make my lessons accessible to my students once they leave the classroom, in other words, it can give students Super Powers or like the old Red Bull advert says, it gives my students wings!

However, for Digital tools to have a positive impact in our students' learning,  it is important to plan and make its use clear in the curriculum. In order to do that, as I mentioned in my previous blogpost on achieving Fluency, it is important to decide a platform to share with students and think backwards: What do we want our students to achieve by the end of each unit? How are we going to get there? and finally, which tools can we use at each stage of the process? 

This is the journey:

a these are some of the tools I use at each stage:

MODELLING STAGE

Spiral and Mentimeter

I use both tools as an alternative to Mini Whiteboards in the classroom: I do translations both ways, dictations, delayed dictation, finishing the sentence or write a sentence with the given word (great for retrieval practice). A tutorial video on how to use Spiral can be found here 

Screencasting 

Screencasting, I use Loom, your modelling activities, and upload them into your own very Youtube channel, is a great way to practise Modelling. Of course, I do modelling in face to face lessons with my students, however, I love the possibility of using my own Youtube videos as listenings, dictations and translation as homework tasks. This is a clear example of how technology allows you take your lesson outside the classroom! Modelling and listening/practise pronunciation has never been easier! This is an example video 

Bitmojis

Bitmojis are a great way to carry out modelling activities! I can make my Bitmoji talk and create multiple listening comprehension activities based on this: Fill in the gaps, Questions/Answer, full transcriptions etc.. I use PhotoSpeak on my iPhone to create the talking effect. Once the video is created and uploaded unto my Youtube channel, I can create a MS Forms task with it, add it to a LearningApps activity or just embed it into my OneNote with the activities I want my students to carry out. I love creating my own Speaking Bitmoji as a listening activity as I can speak faster, slower etc.. to meet the needs of my students.

For a post on how to use Bitmojis creatively in the classroom, visit this Blogpost.  with a tutorial from the amazing Joe Dale.  This is an example of my Bitmoji Speaking on Relationships for my Y10 class.

SentenceBuillders.com 

Ths site is amazing for Modelling!!! It was created by the talented Marting Lapworth, creator of TaskMagic and Textivate and it is based on Gianfranco Conti's MARS EARS type of activities with Sentence Builders. You can create your own activities or use the premium ones based on prepopulated Sentence Builders on the site. I use the site for face to face teaching with my students, but especially to help pupils memorise our Sentence Builders in a engaging way. For more information on this site, visit its Blog

AWARENESS-RISING AND CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Flippity

I love Flippity for fun drilling practice of my Sentence Builders with elements of Fluency as I demonstrate on this video tutorial  

I also use Flippity with Manipulatives and as a listening activity, you can even insert your Bitmoji video there too! Check out this example. Overall, it is a great way to have a Blended Learning experience!

LearningApps

One of my absolutely favourites! This tool will allow you to create many different type of online activities which will help students memorise those important Sentence Builders and practise the language in a controlled and fun way! Here there's a tutorial video on how to exploit this free tool in the classroom. 

All my LearningApps activities can be found here

Wheel of Names

Another of my classic activities for Blended Learning. I explain how I exploit and milk this tool in this Video Tutorial. 

Quizlet, Memrise, Blooket and Carousel Learning.

These vocab learning platforms are great tools to practise the language and help students memorise Sentence Builders. I use Memrise with KS3 and Quizlet with KS4. I always link each of my Sentence Builders to at least 3 Quizlet or Memrise courses with around 10 chunks in them. Carousel Learning is also a great way to practise translations and carry out Retrieval Practice. I love Blooket as it allows me to upload my Quizlet courses so, from one activity a get two interactive tasks!

Quizizz

A quiz tool which I maximise by asking students to produce long answers to oral questions before we carry out oral practice in class. A type of warming up task! I also use it as an alternative tool for listening practice. I explain how in this video Tutorial. 

SPONTANEITY/ROUTANISATION/AUTONOMY STAGE

Genially

Great for Escape Rooms and especially, BoardGames to practise open ended questions or specific structures. 

Tip: Plan in advance with your team how you can exploit Genially and divide the work by deciding, within your team, who could create which activities on different topics. I also love using Genially to practise Exam skills in a relaxed way, even with ALevels! An example can be found here. 

Deck Toys

Deck toys is the not so known app and it is fantastic!  I use it to create Scape Rooms with all levels, including Y13/Y11 and exam skills. I love it, because I can also include Quizlet courses here. For a blogpost on how to exploit Deck Toys use in the classroom, click here. 

All my DeckToys activities can be found here. 

Flipgrid

Great for oral presentations! I love this app as students can cover their face or even do screencasting. I also like the fact that I can enter some rubrics to mark their work. 

Padlet

Another classic! I use it for collaborative work but also to showcase what students can write about from memory at the end of the learning journey, so the whole class can see each other's entries and learn from each other. I also use Padlet as a revision guide at GCSE. A post on how to do that can be found here. 

Of course there are more tools!  This is just a summary of my favourite mainly FREE ones! This is language, The Language Gym, Textivate and Languagenut are also some of my favourite ones at the Practice Stage too. 

The key point is to plan, when designing the curriculum, how and where these tools could be used in the classroom to give students WINGS!

A presentation on these ideas, which I carried out for Languagenut can be found here 

Teaching in times of covid: Using Digital Games at Alevel

 After an amazing morning sharing ideas with wonderful MFL teachers in the TMMFLicons event, I would like to write briefly about how to upcycle most of the apps we use with KS3/4 and reutilise them at Alevel to create digital small games during Covid times.

My presentation from the TMMFLicons Webinar today

 

WHY?

Because games at Alevel as at earlier stages, engage and enthuse students and it is a fantastic opportunity to use the language in a real context: the interaction produced from the game is real target language use, which comes much easier than at the early years when their students are not as fluent. 

WHEN?

At Alevel I use my 10 Step Guide, which is fully explained here. I have found that using digital games at stages, 4, 6, 9 and 10 (in red below) of  this sequence, is particularly effective with my students and easy to do via Teams or Zoom if sharing a screen or even better in Breakout Rooms.

1. GCSE Oral activity

2. Oral activity based on a thought provoking photo

3. Working with a text (reading)

4. Practising structures from the text in stage 3 

5. Working with a text (listening)

6. Explicit grammar lesson 

7. Language assistant

8. Lecture Style lesson

9. Oral practice with ideas from all lessons.   

10. Exam style Questions.  

STAGE 4 WHEEL OF NAMES WITH POINTS

Wheel of Names examplehere 

At stage 3 we "milk" and "squeeze" a reading text, where we study ideas, structures, vocabulary etc.. For Stage 4 I recreate a similar text, in English, recycling the structures from our previous text and I divide it sections. I put the sections in wheel of names, with allocated points and share my screen. Students are divided in teams and when the wheel spins a member of the team must translate the chunk that comes up in the wheel, or even extend it. They do this orally so they get instant feedback. I keep a tally of the points.

Below a video on How to create a Wheel of Names activity

STAGE 6 CLASSROOMSCREEN AND FLIPPITY FOR GRAMMAR PRACTICE

Classroomscreen example here 

The example above is from a Y12 lesson on the subjunctive which I did on Friday. I share the screen, roll the dice and students need to create a sentence according to the number in the dice.

Flippity example here 

The example above is from a Y13 lesson to practice "difficult" structures with students. I enter key structures (grammar) in the Google Slides for the Flippity activity. When running the activity I go to "lineup" mode. I structure comes out. I divide the class in teams and someone from the team must translate the structure and create a sentence with it, orally. Teams get a point for each correct answer. 

At a second stage, here is how you can "milk" the activity, you can go to "groups of 2", now students need to create a big sentence using the two structures in each box. You can make it more challenging by going to "groups of 3/4 " etc.. At this point, students are allowed to write their paragraphs and post them into the Collaborative area in Onenote or use Spiral.ac. (In a normal classroom students would use mini whiteboards to write their answers) You can compare answers, students correct each other's paragraphs etc.

Flippity Example here for literature

Same as above but now students need to speak about the character, metaphor or even quote that comes up in the "lineup" mode. They can work in teams and support each other. Normally they need to talk for up to a minute. This is great once the book has been studied as a Retrieval Practice activity.

STAGE 9 GENIALLY BOARDGAME TO PRACTISE ORAL QUESTIONS.

Example here on Jumanlly on Genially

I play this game as a whole class by sharing my screen, as I have small sets at Alevel. However, it can be played in Breakout Rooms, where students play in groups of 4/8 students with one student sharing the screen with the group. I move the counters and when landing on a dot, students must answer orally a question on the given topic. Students love this activity and the template is free from Genially!  

Below a Video on how to Create a Genially Boardgame

STAGE 10 GENIALLY BOARDGAME AND DECKTOYS LEARNING PATH TO PRACTISE EXAM QUESTIONS.

Example here on Snakes and Ladders on Genially

I was trying to think of exciting ways to practise exam style questions without using the actual paper or worksheets from Exampro, and I thought of adding them in Genially and Deck Toys as little tasks!  

This is what I did:  using Snipping Tool, I selected the exam question I wanted to practise (mainly translations and summaries) and pasted it onto Genially.  

Students play the game in small groups in Breakout Rooms. When landing on a spot they must, as a group, carry out the exam question. They do this collaboratively, so learning from each other, and in writing. They upload their answers to Onenote for me to mark later.  If you have a look at the example, there is also a filling gaps LearningApps activity embedded from an actual past paper, a type of question that my students find particularly difficult!

Example here on Deck Toys  

This activity worked a treat yesterday Friday, Period 8 with my Y13s! Students carried it out in Breakout Rooms in small teams. 

The aim of the activity is to escape the island, by collecting keys, which students get by going through the learning path, which is formed of past exam questions!!! Reading, summaries and translations. 

One student shared the screen with everyone in their breakout rooms and worked collaboratively through the tasks. The big plus of Deck Toys is that students can submit direct answers to the game!!!! (not like in Genially).  Students go to the deck via a link and sign up with their Microsoft accounts (they can also use Google). THEY LOVED IT!   They did not have time to finish it in the lesson so I asked them to finish it for homework for Monday's lesson. Yesterday evening, I checked the Teacher's section of Deck Toys and everyone had escaped the island, meaning, they had completed all the past exam questions!!! Amazing!

Visit this post on how to use Deck Toys 

And here it is a How to Video to start using Deck Toys. Great for departmental use!

Happy Gaming!!!

Teaching in times of Covid: Breakout Rooms

This is the first post, I hope, in a series of posts where I would like to reflect on what is working for me and is not working in remote teaching. In a previous post, I wrote about my approach to teaching remotely: adopting a hybrid approach between live online lessons, mainly for Starters and Plenary activities, and independent tasks shared via Onenote which I can follow live and give feedback, while I am available on Teams to sort out questions.  Some of these independent activities also involve interactive videos where I introduce vocabulary, carry out a dictation, listening activity, translation etc.. as I would have done in normal lessons.  This approach worked brilliantly in March and is working extremely well now! 

However, we have a new kid on the block if you, like me, use Teams to deliver your lessons: Breakout Rooms!!! Inspired by the wonderful presentation from Ester Borin in todays' TILT show and Tell, I have decided to focus on how we can use Breakout Rooms in the MFL remote classrooms. 

The concept of Breakout Rooms is that you can divide your students who are participants in a Team meeting, in different rooms so students have mini meetings within the main meeting. I was very excited about this possibility which would allow me to add a personal touch to my lessons and create collaborative tasks for my students, making the whole process of remote learning less isolating!  I started using Breakout Rooms last week and this is a summary of my reflections:

TIPS 

1 To have the option of Breakout Rooms, you need the latest version of the Teams app in your computer. You cannot run them through the Web Version as the meeting organiser for your Breakout Rooms. 

2 For the Breakout Rooms to work, your students also need to have the latest version of the Teams app or use the Web Version. If they have an old version, they will not be added to a room and they will remain in the main meeting.

3 Students cannot see your main screen once they are in their Breakout Rooms, so anything you want them to work on, must be shared via the chat or, like I do, via your class Onenote.

4 You can manually assign students to the Breakout Rooms or you can allow Teams to do so, after you select how many rooms you want. If a child is left alone, close the room and assign that child manually to any of the other rooms. 

5 Hop from room to room to make sure students are on task and they don't leave the meeting!

6 Once students are distributed to rooms, Teams can redistribute then to different ones automatically, as Adolfo Suarez Fuente points out, if you do this in a time limit you’ve got a Speed Dating type of activity. 

I found this short Youtube Video tutorial very easy to follow to get me started from a technical point of view. Thank you to my colleague Malcom Ewan for pointing me out to the right direction! 

GOOD ACTIVITIES FOR BREAKOUT ROOMS

Many thanks to Ester Borin for the inspiration for some of these activities:

1 Battleships, or any Information Gap activity you would do in a lesson with a worksheet!

I share my Battleships worksheet on Onenote as part of my week's lessons with my Y10. (TIP: if you insert the worksheet as Print in Onenote and select the image as background, students can write direcly on it with a digital pen or type).

I create the Breakout rooms so I have 2 or 3 students in each room. Students play battleships against their partner, no one needs to share the screen etc. as each child will have their own Onenote open and write on the Battleships worksheet directly while talking to their partner and playing the game. 

2 Group Discussion with brainstorming of ideas

I did this with my Y13 class. They had to prepare ideas for a debate in groups of 2/3. Students were assigned to a Breakout Room and discussed their ideas for them to use in a final debate in a whole class activity. To write ideas, you can use the Collaboration Space in your Onenote or some of the wonderful slides from Slidemania , which you can share on Onenote (make sure that your PPT is editable when you share the link so everyone can write on the slides). This way at the end of the activity, everyone can see the ideas from all the groups. 

I used the same idea for my Y9 Erasmus lesson, where students had to come up with ideas for the Global Goals in Breakout Rooms and write these ideas in a particular Slide from a PPT (which I downloaded FREE from Slidemania)

3 Genially Boardgame 

I did this with my Y10 students. I created a Genially Boardgame which I shared in our lesson Onenote page.  Students were divided in groups of 3/4 in Breakout Rooms. One student (Señora Salgado's little helper) in each room shared their Onenote screen and game, rolled the dice and moved the counters while all the students played together orally.

4 Deck Toys Learning Path

I also carried out this activity with my Y10s. As in the previous activities, I shared my learning path in our class Onenote.  I divided students in Breakout Rooms and my little helper in each room, shared their screen with the rest of the group. Students went through the deck as a team while only the person who was sharing the screen was entering answers, on behalf of the group. Students will have the opportunity to complete the deck at another moment individually.

5 Playing Quizlet, Flippity Randomizer, LearningApps in groups.  

I haven't tried this yet, but as in the examples above, once I share the links in Onenote, students will get assigned to Breakout Rooms, one student will share their screen and all can work in pairs or as a group with the activities.

6 Any collaborative activity, really!

I think, Breakout Rooms is a game changer and can make our lessons more "human" and closer to the real classroom experience!!! In the case of MFL, being able to do oral work in pairs o small groups is priceless and so needed!  

Technical difficulties will occur but keep trying because when it works it is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Gamification in the MFL classroom: Deck.Toys

I believe in gamification, especially in MFL as the subject relies in constant drilling and practice of structures and vocabulary until these are embedded in our linguistic corpus. It is not easy, especially in the UK with limited curriculum time. Languages can be perceived as challenging and, worst of all, boring! 

Structured and careful planned game activities can be key to engage students, practice the language from different angles and help students to transfer information into their long term memories! 

Gamification can occur in many ways and shapes! Any element of competition, even in zero preparation activities involving oral input can be a game changer! 

I play games all the time! From the modelling stage, to controlled practice to spontaneous production! However, in this post I would like to talk about Deck Toys. 

Deck toys

This lovely tool was introduced to me by Jimena Licitra a few weeks ago! The concept is that teachers create a learning path or deck. The deck is full of different challenges or online activities that students must complete while they advance through their path, normally simulating moving around some idyllic landscape or boardgame!

But this is not all, the app is very powerful as it allows you to create two types of activities:

Study set games, based on some vocabulary/structures input (you can transfer your Quizlet courses for this) or

Slide Activities which allows you to upload any word, PPT, PDF or worksheet/presentation and make it interactive by adding different functions to it for students to interact with: polls, text input from students, drawing input, photo, oral input or multiple choice questions. 

The app also allows you to add some cool elements such as a treasure keys collection function, which allows students to collect different hidden keys along their learning path, which will open certain locks at the end of the end of the learning path; locks to enter different activities, timers, web links etc...  

You can also embed your own activities from sites such as LearningApps, WordWall, Flippity or Wheel of Names to include listening, filling gaps etc.. as part of your learning tasks challenges! This feature is super important as it allows me to recycle other activities in a different setting, saving me time!

Once created, you need to make sure you create a class and assign your deck to this class. The app generates a unique class url that you share with your students. When students click on it, they join the activity signing in with their Google/Microsoft accounts, or just as guests. 

The app also allows you to interact in real time with your students if working remotely!

You have access from your class, to the answers that your students submitted as part of their deck, which you can review and check for understanding.

You can do three decks for free before going pro, paying around £8 per month.  This would be great for a department to generate, end of unit practice! 

How do I use it? 

Creating a meaningful Deck!!! Students start by practising the language we are working on via the Study Set Games (flashcards, matching, memory game, multiple choice, jigsaw etc..), whose content I just copied and pasted from my quizlet courses!!! to move quickly to activities including Reading, Translation and Listening using LearningApps, Wordwall or Flippity which allows students to practice the studied language within context in a controlled way!

I like the feature of collecting keys!  You can put these keys at the end of any activity as a reward! Once collected, students can enter them into specific treasure boxes, giving a motivation to your activity, a little bit like a Escape Room! Students get points too as they advance through the deck! 

If you add Locks to your activities, then you have a Escape Room, as you cannot enter the following activity until a code is entered (I use Verbs in different tenses). 

The final activity of my deck would be a freely produced oral or written activity, using all the structures and verbs practised via the reading, listening and translation activities of the deck.  This does not need to be part of the learning path, but the subsequent activity and the purpose of the deck!

Look at this example for the topic of School in Y10:

Link to ALL my DeckToys activities

Tutorial on how to use DeckToys

Final Veredict!

I like it. I like it a lot! but it can take some time to set up if you go for a complex Deck from scratch!  However, if shared among the department, it is fine! Three Decks is not a lot! so if you like it, you will need to go pro! It takes some time to get used to the way it works but it is not difficult at all, just some time consuming for the first time, but the same issue I find with Genially!

You can use Decks from other educators and modify them or just use them!

Overall, this is a great app that can really enhance the learning experience of the students but you need to plan carefully all the activities that you will use in your deck and to maximise its use, reuse those old worksheets or those great activities in other apps!!!

Link to a postblog written by me for DeckToys

Embedded retrieval practice: the next level

You may think I am obsessed with retrieval practice but it is so important in order to keep students motivated and make progress that a big percentage of my lesson time is dedicated to this. 

A few weeks ago I read an article by Marc Enser on some research on retrieval practice. In the article Marc explained how two departments in their school (History and Geography) wanted to see the impact of retrieval practice in their students’ results. They used quizzes in their lessons for this. Both departments got an improvement in their test results but Geography’s were much higher. When they analysed the data and tried to explain this discrepancy, they discovered that History used to do a quiz in each lesson from previous knowledge but not related to the content of the actual lesson. Geography, on the other hand, did also a quiz but this was embedded in what students were learning in the lesson, hence, helping students to consolidate and embed learning in this long-term memory more successfully than the History department. This is powerful and it relates to my own practice.

Retrieval practice must be embedded with new content constantly so language becomes automatized and students can transfer structures freely from different contexts!

All activities done in lessons with new material should include structures from old topics applied to these new contexts while also making reference to the content from past topics. Planned activities and homework tasks should give students opportunities to practise past content as a matter of fact:  When asking students to practice sentences on school topic, why not including sentences from holidays and, most importantly, adapting those structures from holidays into the new topic of school?  When planning activities for Y11 students on the topic of festivals, why not including also content from work, free time and holidays? why not applying structures seen in the topic of free time "juego al fútbol desde hace 3 años" in this new topic "trabajo de canguro desde hace 3 meses"?   

Digital tools for embedded retrieval practice 

In this post I wrote, extensively, about different apps that I use for retrieval practice but I would like to add a few which I have used since while still mentioning the old ones! 

Spiral.ac

This is the new kid on the block in my teaching! Introduced to me by Laura Causer during the Show and Tell Webinar of the Language Show, this tool has revolutionised my retrieval practice strategy and saved me time!!!! 

Spiral is basically, like Wooclap or Mentimeter, an interactive response tool. What’s the difference with the two previous apps? You need zero preparation if you use the QuickFire light option! 

Basically, you open an account, create a class (you don’t need names), select the QuickFire light option from the home menu, select your class and share a special URL and code with your students (these will also be the same for that class every time you launch the QuickFire, so my students have bookmarked it). Similar to Kahoot, Mentimeter etc....

Pupils log in with that special code (not additional login required) and you will start seeing their names appearing on your screen. When you are ready to ask questions to consolidate and retrieval previous knowledge, you just press the green go button!

Students then start writing their answers to your question, which will appear on the screen, only when you click on “reveal answers”. This option is great as students cannot copy each other and you can wait to reveal answers once everyone has submitted their input. To increase pace, I encourage early birds, either to check their answers or to extend them so they do not sit down doing nothing while partners submit answers, great for differentiation too! 

At this point you may select “show names” too or “hide the names”: I find this little action powerful as sometimes you may want to give confidence to students who tend to make mistakes and you may decide not to show their names until a later stage. 

However, when you decide to do so, the students’ names will appear with their answers on the screen! Big plus from Mentimeter or Wooclap and students can also modify/ improve their answer if you prompt them to do so. Great tool for feedback too.

Spiral is basically an interactive mini whiteboard and it is ideal for hybrid situations when you have students online and students in the classroom! Also no need to sanitise mini whiteboards after single use! In action it looks like the pictures below:

LearningApps

In my previous post I explained in lots of detail all the activities that can be achieved with this tool. The golden rule is to use these activities blended in the learning experience and incorporating structures and vocabulary from previous studied topics! Below there’s a how to video guiding you how to use the tool. 

How to use LearningApps video

Flippity 

Another great free tool for Retrieval Practice! The randomiser and Random Name picker are great tools for retrieval practice! Instructions are straightforward and you will need a Google account. 

Extended uses of how to use Flippity can be found in this Post. 

Quizizz

This tool allows you to create personalised interactive quizzes, incorporating sound too so great to revise oral questions while also checking listening comprehension! 

How to use quizizz video 

Carousel Learning

This is another of the new tools I have started to use in the last month. Designed by Adam Boxer, creator of Retrieval Roulettes, which Julia Morris talked about during the Show and Tell Webinar in the Language Show, Carousel Learning is also a free tool which allows you to upload a spreadsheet with as many items (Qs) as you want to include, and topics. As my input, I use short sentences that students need to translate into Spanish.

 In your spreadsheet you must include your question (English sentence for me), the answer (Spanish translation) and the topic it refers to. There is a template in the site to get the setting right! Once this spreadsheet is uploaded, Carousel Learning allows you to create specific quizzes on particular topics, which you can rotate and assign to different classes. There are also many quizzes questions from the learning community for you to use too!

Why do I love Carousel learning? Because students do not get immediate feedback but they are presented with the right answers at the end of their quiz. Students then must decide if they were correct or not. I think this feature is extremely powerful for independent learning and making students take ownership for their own mistakes and improvement!!! What did I get right? What did I get wrong? Why? And look for help! Although it needs training! 

Jane Basnett has created this súper video on how to set up a quiz on Carousel learning. It is extremely informative and well explained so a must watch! 

Genially

I love this tool!! There are many talented Genially people in the UK such as Marie Allirot or Julia Morris who actually make their own genially activities from scratch! 

However, I am lazy, so I use the templates provided in the gamification section! You have many interactive free games such as Snakes and Ladders or Escape Rooms, which you only need to modify to fit your retrieval practice input! I love genially because through games students reinforce those key structures! Genially also embeds smoothly into Onenote, which I use for my lessons, although you can just share your genially game with your classes the way you want to!

You can also embed your LearningApps to the genially game questions! How cool is this?

How to use Genially video (using the app templates)

Joe Dale and Marie Allirot webinar on Gamification in the classroom through Genially. A must watch!

Wheel of names

One of my favourite apps! For an extensive explanation on how to use Wheel of names in the classroom and in a blended learning situation have a look at this post.

To find out how Wheel of Names works, have a look at the video below:

How to use Wheel of Names video

Textivate

Let’s not forget the basics! This is not free but it is brilliant for retrieval practice! I love every feature of it! It is very affordable. It is an improved online version of Taskmagic: same creator Martin Lapworth. 

Example of Textivate activity based on Tourism and Transport (embedding principle).

Other tools you can explore!

BLOOKET 

This is a tool which allows you to create your own little games, which you then share with students. Students get tokens and rewards for completing the games. In my opinion, more suitable for KS3. My only reservation is that the games are based on multiple choice, which, I, particularly, am not keen on. However, still a great tool to revise those key structures, especially similar ones in different tenses!

WORDWALL

Similar to LearningApps but you can only create a limit of activities unless you go premium! You do not have the embedded audio facility, which is a shame! However, the activities are very eye-catching and attractive for young learners!

GIMKIT

Many people are using this! It is not free and I have not used it myself yet!  The Intruders game seems like a hit on twitter and many people have recommend it to me.  I need to explore this one!

DECK TOYS (thanks to Jimena Licitra for this) 

This was introduced to me only a few weeks ago by the amazing Jimena Licitra and it has lots of potential! However, it will require some time to create your resources.  This app allows you to create interactive learning paths for your students! It looks very, very powerful and engaging but you will need to dedicate some time to it! You can have some free decks, or learning paths for free but after that there is a premium to pay. You can also use decks created by others! If structured well, this should be an extremely engaging tool for topic revision and retrieval practice of key structures. Watch this space!

So, retrieval practice is important, very important. So important that it should be present in every lesson you do by embedding content and structures from all topics all the time. Using these tools allows me to do so in a motivating and engaging way! However, do not get me wrong, retrieval practice can be done without technology. 

Embedded Retrieval Practice must take place at all stages of learning, ALL THE TIME and it must be planned thoroughly via meaningful activities, especially in the Practice Stage of learning!

Blended Learning: "How to " Tutorials for my favourite Digital Tools

I have talked a lot about Digital Tools and how these can support my lessons, creating a Blended Learning experienced in my classroom.  See my post here. 

On this post, I am sharing some quick How to videos on how to use these tools in the classroom to create a Blended Learning experience.  These tools were also invaluable during lock-down!

In the videos, which are not edited so apologies if they are not perfect, I show how I create the resource and I quickly explain possible uses in the classroom for MFL but also for other subjects!

These tools are great for Retrieval Practice and when implemented in the classroom where students bring their own device, you suddenly have Blended Learning in action!  I use Onenote to share the activities created this way.  However, Google Classroom would be equally good. 

Since September, all my students bring their own device to lessons and they open their Onenote. I teach using, face to face techniques, activities through my board but also via activities using the apps from the videos, which have been previously shared via Onenote.  

During lessons, some students may work on the activities online while others may do oral work with me, or the whole class may work through the activities online. This is how I have been teaching for the last three weeks and my students love it!  Rather than doing an old-fashioned worksheet, students may do a Quizizz, Wheel of Names or a LearningApps activity!  As we cannot use board games now, students play board games (for oral, translation practice) via the Genially free digital boards!  

I have tried to maximise all the knowledge I acquired during Lock-down from amazing educators such as Joe Dale, Helen Meyers, Jane Basnett, Vincent Everett or Marie Allirot to just mention a few! I hope you find the video guides useful!  There are more guides to come: Flippity, Flipgrid and Padlet but on a second post as this has taken most of the Sunday morning to make. 

How to use Genially for Board Games in the Blended Learning Classroom

How to use Quizizz in the Blended Learning Classroom

How to use Google forms to create a simple Escape Room

How to use Learning Apps in the Blended Learning Classroom

How to use Wheel of Names in the Blended Classroom 

How to use Spiral.ac in the Blended Classroom

How to use ClassroomScreen in the Blended Classroom

How to make a simple learning path using Deck.toys