Teacher and tech with Leo

Under the circumstance of the pandemic, the traditional way of teaching has been interrupted and most students have to acquire new knowledge at home. Therefore, the concept of blended learning, or flipped classroom, has gained popularity again among teachers and has been put into practice by many schools and institutions. So what is a flipped classroom? The concept of the flipped classroom reverses the way of traditional teaching, where students first learn new things within a classroom and then finish homework or assignment at home. Instead, students first learn the course material with the assistance of recorded lecture videos and at home, and then they deepen their understanding through discussion with other students and feedback from their tutors in class. The biggest difference here is that students are given more autonomy to learn what they think is important and creatively apply their comprehension through group discussion. Source from: Pixabay (click here ) For teachers, one c

Speaking English fluently has always been the dream for language learners. And it is evident that everyone eagers to freely talk about what they want to express and be well understood by others. However, students may find it hard to monitor and regulate progress in English speaking. So today I will introduce Speechling  as a tool to help students start this journey and accelerate their speaking skills! What is Speechling and how does it work? Speechling  is a nonprofit language learning platform that focuses on improving your speaking skills. Just like the parrot icon of the website, in Speechling, speaking practice is the simplest way of repetition and comparison. Students can gradually improve their fluency in a continuous circle of the four steps： 1. Listening- students can listen to how particular expressions and sentences are pronounced by a real native speaker instead of a machine. 2. Repeating-  students repeat the expressions and imitate some speaking features (e.g. pronunciati

Collaborative learning is a popular approach that enhances students' learning experience through working together. Teachers can organise different activities such as brainstorming and problem-solving tasks to promote students' understanding of a particular concept or topic. So today, I am going to introduce Padlet as a tool that helps teachers openly gather different ideas and opinions. What is Padlet? Padlet is a virtual wall where teachers can post content in the form of links, images, videos and documents and students can comment and share their thoughts and ideas. This provides an interactive space for both teachers and learners and a useful resource for collaborative learning. Also, the platform offers a range of templates with different styles, and teachers can choose either one of them based on their needs and preferences. The Wall here is the most popular and traditional to collect students' opinions and comments.   Elements of a Padlet Once teachers have chosen th

Memorising words can be a painful process for those who want to expand their vocabulary. They may find it hard to stick on and are much in need of supervision to check their progress. Nowadays, the software helps solve this problem and thus promotes learner autonomy, focusing their attention. So today, I am going to introduce Memrise as a tool for vocabulary learning. What is Memrise? Memrise is an online version of traditional flashcards, where words and translations are written on both sides. Through spaced repetition and review, students can gradually remember the difficult words. In this app, learning new vocabulary is characterised as planting a seed in your memory, and finally turning it into a flower when all finish. But Memrise is not simply words and translations, there are also some features that help students focus: - A range of language practices (e.g. spelling, putting words in order, and choosing the correct answer) -Authentic video clips for particular expressions Below

If you are a language instructor, what could you do to make students understand and apply the words and expressions that relate to the topic? When I was a learner in my home country, the answer could be simple: show them, explain them and remember them. However, things could be different when it might start with some slightly more engaging questions, for example, "Do you want to plan for a journey?" or “What would you like to prepare for a birthday party?” These, relatively, can be designed as what we called tasks during the class. That means students need to reach a real-life goal through working out a problem collaboratively. Meanwhile,   task-based learning (TBL) exercises students' higher-order thinking as well as simple knowledge comprehension and use. They need to find reasons for their decisions, make a discussion, and finally come to an agreement. Source from: Center for Teaching Vanderbilt University In the era of information, students can get access to whatever

For language teachers, one headache problem could be the demotivated students in their classes, especially when they are learning new vocabularies and grammar rules. While nowadays, technology could help them out of it, one digital game-based online learning platform-Kahoot, has become increasingly popular in classrooms. Research also shows that Kahoot has a positive effect on promoting students' interest and engagement ( Wang, 2015 ). So what is Kahoot? Kahoot is a game-based interactive platform where students have to quickly respond to the questions by pressing the button with different shapes on their phones or tablets. Compared with traditional printed materials, it could be more engaging to students when funny music rings and colourful options appear in their sights. Competitive nature can be the greatest feature of this platform, which is proved as the key factor to keep students' attention ( Wang, 2015 ). Students should not just correctly answer the question at a limit