Video interviews on the beach, for ESL learners

Great to see this guy from an English school in France interviewing people on the street, and then adding captions to the video. This one is part of a series focussing on homeless people, on the beach in Miami. Interesting to compare the two women’s opinions here. Here’s the first in the series, with interviews of Santa Claus, whose residence is South Miami Beach. From (Real English MPG.)

Student Blogging, (efl/esl)

Adult learners are starting to get into Self-Publishing (aka blogging). and Barbara Dieu, a Brazilian educator, has set up an Exchange for ESL students around the world. With two colleagues, she has found a way to gather and re-publish the writings of students who have blog journals in their ESL classes. (This re-publishing is known as ‘aggregation’.) The site is called Dakita (i don’t know why), and the collection of student writings you’ll find in The Orchard (or The Exchange). Worth a look, especially if you’re thinking of using blogs Read More …

multi-touch interfaces, wow

Now if you know me, you’ll know that i am a keyboard junkie, my fingers can fly across the dvorak keyboard, and if i have to use a mouse, give me a trackball anyday. However when teaching people in the community to use standard Qwerty keyboard and mouse, i wish the future would get here faster. I know there are ‘tablet pc’s for people who can afford them (ie not ACE), but what i’m really wanting is something more like what Jeff Han demonstrated last year .. the multi-touch visual Read More …

Buy a computer, for ABE students

Here’s a reference guide for any students in Adult Literacy classrooms – how to navigate your way through buying a computer, a “plain English resource”. The site is based in the US, so no local shops for Australians, but it could be a good place to start for groups considering a similar activity. The group was given a task to find the best value computer for under $1000. Certainly seems a good idea for a classroom activity.