Google Squared

This came from a recent TechLearning newsletter [post], which is well worth subscribing to (free).

Google Squared is still under development and I'm not quite sure if I can see an actual worthwhile classroom application of it but it's at least a different way to search and does allow you to add and take away results.

Disappointing that "Google Squared couldn't automatically build a Square about classroom technology", though it did rather better on "teaching methods" (see screen capture, above).

With or without learners, maybe it would be better anyway just to brainstorm such things, rather than let Google-is-Evil do all the thinking for you?

Ken Lee on Bulgarian Music Idol

Here's a YouTube video my son sent me that might be interesting to watch in class with language learners -- apart from anything else as Music Idol and its equivalents are still popular shows and will thus lead to discussion.

Our first reaction is perhaps to laugh, but as language teachers I don't think we should laugh at people having difficulty pronouncing English correctly. But I think you'll find that our own language learners react in different ways to it -- which is great for discussion.

With this and virtually all videos on YouTube you can also often exploit both the comments (as text) and the "reactions", i.e. other videos other users post in response. In this case, one of the "reactions" is Mariah Carey's response to seeing the Bulgarian version of a song she helped make famous (and predicting what her response will be would make a good activity).

You've also obviously got the lyrics to exploit and searching for whatever they can find out about the Bulgarian singer, Valentina Hasan, might make the basis of an interesting webquest.

EVO Sessions 2010

The 2010 edition of the excellent TESOL EVO sessions has just been announced.

Session topics include video, online games, teaching with interactive whiteboards and teaching languages in virtual worlds (including Second Life).

The six-week sessions start January 11th, are free and open to all and do not require TESOL membership. They tend to be a little over-subscribed, but are run by volunteers and are well worth attending.

Registration starts January 4th.