Interesting websites

Sometimes I find interesting websites that I consider worth sharing with other people. In this case, I would like to show you this website called Boredpanda which is frequently updated. The posts can be about anything... but they usually have one thing in common... the photos are incredible.

As Halloween is celebrated this week, now the main part of the posts are around this topic, as you can even see in the website design.

In this website you can find very weird posts about amazing things, funny facts about something, incredible photos, supertender pictures with puppies, kitties... have a look and tell me if you don't find some thing that catch your attention! It is impossible!!!

I encourage to choose one and show it in your blog and talk a bit about this. Which one would you chooose? I am very curious.

For example, scrolling down the webpage I have seen one that has attired my attention: a post about the most strange crisps flavours around the world. Have a look!

"La que has liao, pollito..."

A lot of us, who use Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp or Line, receive sometimes a video or a picture which is on everybody's mouth these days. This is called as a video "goes viral", and everybody is talking about it. It has happened lately with a very funny video of a little girl who is drawing on a sheet of paper while a little chick is eating corn by her side... and it seems that the cute girl is a bit annoyed with the chick... If you haven't seen the video yet, don't wait for longer... have a look! I hope you will like it.




The strange thing is how it has become a viral video... her parents recorded her and sent the video only to their Whatsapp friends... and then someone shared it with someone... and one day, they discovered that it was a huge success on Youtube!!! So they decided not to get angry and publish the complete video... Here you are the complete story of Iune (the girl) and her pollito...

Making a short and basic film

Look at what I have just found out while surfing on the net! Dvolver.com, a website where in a couple of minutes you can create a short (and very basic) film. It must be in English, yes... but it is interesting. I have made one myself... and it has no limit of scenes, so maybe you could use that tool to a school project or simply for fun.

Have a look!

More vocabulary clouds (Tagxedo)

I told you about vocabulary coulds in previous posts (here and also here), but recently I found out another online tool called Tagxedo to create word clouds with some predetermined shapes. You can create those clouds with the text you type into the box or, as I have done myself, with the text of a particular website. In my case, I have typed my blog address... and Tagxedo gets the more frequent words and transform them into a shaped figure.

These are only four examples:

I hope you like this tool, and I recommend it to you in order to revise for an exam in an original way! You can also use this with your school projects.

Bloxorz... do you remember?

Almost all of my students of 3rd and 4th of ESO were also my pupils when they were 5th or 6th Primary students. Then I taught them some ICT contents, like creating their first email address, sending some emails, working in the virtual school... and sometimes I showed them some online games (always in English!)... their favourite was "Bloxorz", and I remember how we were absolutely hooked to that game. It consists on getting a block off a hole by using our spatial and mathematical abilities and using only our brain and the keyboard arrows.

Do you feel like playing a game? Do you remember the level you achieved? Here you are one of the online websites where you can play a Bloxorz game again :)

Videos with lyrics

I am sure you like a lot of songs whose lyrics are in English. Do you understand what they are talking about? Sometimes they are a bit of nonsense, but sometimes they have deep meanings...

As you know, you can look for the lyrics on the internet but also using Youtube. Some people make incredible videos (I will show you some another time). These videos with the music and the lyrics help you to learn English. Why? Because you understand better the vocabulary, you learn new words and expressions, and above all, you learn the pronunciation. In addition, if you sing the song trying to pronounce as well as you can you will improve a lot your English.

Do you want to have a try? Let me show you the new Coldplay song. It is part of the "Hunger games: Catching fire" soundtrack. The song is called "Atlas" and, in my opinion, is amazing.

Here it is! Enjoy!

Vocabulary clouds, a good idea!

Last year I showed you an online tool to create word clouds he in this post. I think it would be a great idea not only to revise English or French vocabulary... but also for other subjects' concepts. For example, I have just prepared this cloud for my students of History, for a piece of unit 1 regarding to the "Antic Règim". This could be like this...

What do you think? Try your own cloud!

Funny videos

I am so fond of discovering new Youtube videos that make me smile or even laugh... so when I saw this video I couldn't stop laughing... I have seen it a lot of times, and it always make me laugh, it is incredible!!




I was investigating about the author (the man with glasses is the protagonist, the other is his roommate). His nick on Youtube is MrEpicMann and he has published more than thirty videos... not all of them are so funny, but I want you to see this one... I think this is very funny too!

Homeland

Do you usually watch TV? How do you watch TV programmes, films, documentaries or series? I usually see them online, on the internet... I don't often download them, as it is sometimes slower than watching it online.

I have recently finished the second Homeland season. As the first one, it has twelve episodes... and it will not continue until next September... too long!

This is about Brody, an American marine who has captured and under torture for eight years by a terrorist group (Al-Qaeda). When he is finally free, a CIA officer (Carrie) investigates him because she specializes in Al-Qaeda stuff, and she believes that Brody has become an Al-Qaeda member trying to attempt against the USA.

It is really exciting!!!

Technology dependence

What do these images make you think of? What do you think about our dependence on technology? Maybe you want to use any of these pictures for a post about this topic...

In my opinion, most of us depend too much on technology.

Record yourself !!

I am a bit shy when I speak in a foreign language... yes, I am!! But one of the best things we can do to learn and practise the speaking of a foreign language is... reading aloud... and recording ourselves is a great way to check and practise our pronunciation!

I have just discovered this online recorder (Vocaroo) , so you have no excuses... have a try! And then, insert the recording in a new post. You can do this with any text you have... and for example, you can use a fragment of a student's book text...!



Record audio or upload mp3 >>Vocaroo Voice Message

Funny videos to learn

Sometimes you can learn thanks to videos you could think that are funny but useless... for example, do you know the videos of "Pulcino pio"? There is a version in each language! So through that catchy tune you can learn about onomatopeias and animals...

Here, in English! ("The little chick cheep")




Here, in French (Ici, en français, "Le poussin piou")



So, while singing... you learn a lot!!!

Word clouds (wordle.net)

Last Friday I showed you in class the webpage wordle.net. It is very easy to use to make word clouds, but I have to say that it is not so good to copypaste the html code it provides... as I have done so, and the result is not very good, as you can see.



But if you want a better picture, you can capture it with the "Recortes" tool, or pressing the "ImprPant" key in your keyboard. I have used the "Recortes" one. The result is a lot better, as you can see below.

Try it, if you feel like doing a cloud of words!