Exploring Easy Web Tools (Wordle, Tagul & Padlet) for Meaningful Classroom Activities and Beyond

Exploring Easy Web Tools for Meaningful

Classroom Activities and Beyond

Nina Septina

ninaseptina2009@gmail.com

Inspired By :

BIG Thanks to Ozge Karaoglu, iTDi and JALT TCSIG!

Why web tools?

How to use Wordle & Tagul

Activities with Wordle & Tagul

How to use Padlet

Activities with Padlet

Quiz

Presentation Overview

Let’s explore Wordle & Tagul!

Go to www.wordle.net

Type or paste in a bunch of text

Type or paste in a bunch of text

Run the Java application

The Word Cloud is There!

Design your word cloud :

Pick the color

Design your word cloud:

Choose the layout

Design your word cloud :

Choose the font

Design your word cloud :

Language option

Design your word cloud :

Undo / Redo ?

More wordle settings..

Randomize the design..

Embed the word cloud into a blog

or a web page

Type a word more often to look bigger

Remove common words (& numbers)

To save the word cloud as a picture, use

the Print Screen button or a screen

capture tool

Keep words together (compound nouns)

using ~ (tilde)

Make sure you have Java

Go to http://tagul.com/

Sign Up / Log in

using your existing account

Start a new cloud

Start typing / importing words

Start typing / importing words

Start typing / importing words

The Word Cloud is There!

Design your word cloud:

Choose the shape

Design your word cloud:

Chose the font

Design your word cloud:

Choose the layout

Design your word cloud:

Pick the color

Save the changes, export the word cloud into

different file formats & share the link

Embed the word cloud into a blog

or a web page

What can we do with word clouds?

Find the Opposites

Find the Synonyms

Put students in pairs / groups

Project the word cloud on a class display

Set a certain time limit

Ask students to find the matching opposites /

synonyms

The pair / group that has the most word matchings

wins the game, or...

Students exchange information with other

pairs/groups to build the whole set of the opposites /

synonyms (information gap activity)

Find the Opposites & Synonyms

Grammar Reinforcement: Adjectives

Students categorize the adjectives based on the

number of syllables

Ask them to write the Comparative and

Superlative forms

Students pick some of the adjectives to make

sentences to describe and compare things

around them

Grammar Reinforcement: Adjectives

Grammar Reinforcement:

Regular & Irregular Verbs

Grammar Reinforcement:

Identifying Parts of Speech

Distribute copies of the word cloud /project it on a class

display

Make a chart/table on the board based on word

categories and ask Ss to identify and fill in the columns with

the words that belong to each category

Ask students to pick some words to create sentences about

themselves (imaginary and/or true facts)

Share with peers and have students guess whether the

sentences their friends wrote are based on true experiences

or the made-up ones

Grammar Reinforcement:

Identifying Regular & Irregular Verbs and

Parts of Speech

Song Lyrics

Before listening : to guess the title or what the

song might be about, to pre teach

vocabulary

Whilst listening : to help Ss find the words they

missed

After listening : to reflect back and make

sentences using the vocabulary or grammar in

the song, to summarize and retell the song.

Song Lyrics

Memory Game

Memory Game

Other possible topics :

Parts of the body

Public places

Occupations

Food, fruits & vegetables

Sports & sport equipment

Means of transportations

Countries and nationalities

Hobbies

etc

Run and Hit Game

Display the word cloud on the board or on a class wall

Put students in groups

The teacher reads the definition of a word

Each representative of the group should run to the board

or to the wall and hit / tap the correct word (with their

hand or a fly swatter)

The fastest one wins some points for his/her group

Repeat the procedure until all the words have been

mentioned, and students are to take turns representing

their group

Run and Hit Game

Create an Introduction or a Bio

Create an Introduction or a Bio

Introduction at the first meeting with a class

Business card design logo

Embed it into our personal blog / web page

Use it as a profile picture

Students create and use it to do a show & tell

about themselves, or

Students create it without their names on the

word cloud, submit it to the teacher then play

“Guess Who I Am”

Vocabulary –

Word Categorizing

Ss group the

Animals based

on their

category:

- pets

- zoo animals

- farm animals,

EtcThey could

also add more

animals which

are not listed

on the word cloud.

Ss then tell

their favorite

animals by

making the gestures of the

animals for the

class to guess.

Ss list down

the words

into each

category:

- positive

traits

- negative

traits

-Neutral

Ss pick 3

adjectives

that best

describe them, share

with the

class and

add more

information about

them.

Vocabulary -

Word Categorizing

Photo: Wordle: an easy way to start/review the lesson, by MissLalahttp://lia-liasemarangcandi.blogspot.com/2014/07/wordle-easy-way-to-start-review-lesson.html

Vocabulary -

Word Categorizing Ss divide the

words into

categories:

- hair

- build

- face- skin color

- other

Use the

Vocabulary learned to

describe

themselves, their

friends or famous

people

Photo: Wordle: an easy way to start/review the lesson, by MissLalahttp://lia-liasemarangcandi.blogspot.com/2014/07/wordle-easy-way-to-start-review-lesson.html

Create Cards

- Ss create a (birthday/thank you)card and send it to their beloved

ones on their special day

- Put Ss in pairs, ask them to create a postcard thanking their partner for being a good friend and they are to exchange the cards with

each other (or they could ask each other’s address and send the

card by postal service)

Class Collaborative Thinking / Poll

eg. class expectation

Have students write a reflection to a class discussion or an

answer to a similar topic. For example, “Please describe a

group of classmates that you could learn English well with.

What would you all do to help each other learn better and

more enjoyably?”

Combine all students’ writings into a word cloud

What further reflections or discussions can be made?

Optional: reproduce it in posters to display on the class walls

as a way to reinforce the content.

Class Collaborative Thinking

-eg. class expectation

Adapted from : Murphey, T. &Iswanti S. (2014). Surprising humanity! Comparing ideal

classmates in two countries. ETAS Journal, 31(2) Spring, 33-35.

Reading Comprehension

Before reading: Guess the title, the

topic, which chapter comes first, pre-

teach vocabulary

After reading: Ask who the characters

are, summarize or retell the chapters,

predict what will happen in the next chapter, pick some words from the word

cloud and ask Ss to create sentences

(about themselves) using the words

Class Posters – Review of Units Learned

Wonders of Wordle by Michael Fisher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jslE4ISG2nw

Let’s explore Padlet!

Padlet – go to http://padlet.com/

Sign up / Log in to Padlet

Create a wall

Write the title or the basic info / theme of your wall

Choose the wallpaper

Choose the layout

Set the privacy setting

Enable email notification (Y/N)

Customize the address

Customize the address

Start posting

See our wall collection

Share the link & export the wall into different

file formats

Variety of Padlet activities!

Class Poem Collection

Post - listening (to a song) task

What do you think of

this song (Brave), and what moral lesson can

you take from this

song?

Write down the things

you'd like to be brave

about in the next few

months.

An activity by Tim Murphey

Show (the video) & tell

Students learn to

describe their

lovely moments by

first showing them

an Animoto video

which is uploaded

on a class padlet

wall, then further tell the class about the

photos in the video

by using the

grammar and

vocabulary learned.

Students' Commercials

Students' Dream Countries/Cities

Writing assignment

Topic : beautiful places all over the world / travelling.

>> Ss sharethe class their dream city / country and the reason why they want

to go there and what activities they can do there.

Share Who/What Students Love the Most

After Ss learn

about adjective

clauses, ask them

to create a

sentence using

an adjective

clause to share

with the class

what or who they love the most.

Class Favourite Quotes

Lesson focus:

Direct vs Indirect speech

-As a home assignment, ask Ss to post their

favorite quote on the wall

- In class, ask them to change these quotes

into indirect speech

- Next, they exchange experiences and

stories about why they love these quotes, and

in what way these quotes have affected their

lives

Class Favourite Quotes

Class Story ProjectA joint text (story)

construction

between teacher

and Ss

- Post a sentence or

two to begin the

story

-Ss continue adding to teacher’s

sentence(s)

- Number the Ss to

assign order for

taking turns creating and

posting the

sentences on the

wall

Capture Important Class Moments

(Class Photo Album)

Collaborative Project Between Countries

Guess what the object is used for ?

Collaborative Project Between Countries

Collaborative Project Between Countries

Students discuss unique and interesting activities or

objects found in their culture (that people from another

culture may not easily recognize)

Students then take a photograph of the object or activity

they have chosen.

Students post the photo on the Padlet wall and ask

students in the partner country to guess what the object is

used for, or in the case of an activity, ask what people are

doing and why

Want to collaborate? Drop me a message ;)

Collaborative Project Between Countries

This activity is adapted from an intercultural exchange by Indonesian & Japanese students done

in 2011 - Bray, E. & NurIswanti, S. (2013). Japan–Indonesia intercultural exchange in a Facebook

Group. The Language Teacher 37 (2) 29-34

Make Connection with Parents, Showcase of

Students' Activities in class

This project aims to improve students’ language development by

intensifying their learning through making video recordings of students'

activities available for students to watch at home with parents.

These videos served as a reinforcement of lessons discussed in class

which could be watched and repeated at their convenience at home

offering more exposure to English as well as creating a memorable

learning experience for the students.

Parents are invited to take part as co-learners to attend students when

watching the recordings at home. They could give their children

encouragement to participate more and perform better while at the same

time they could follow their children's progress.

Make Connection with Parents, Showcase of

Students' Activities in class

Septina, N. & Murphey, T. (2013). Language performance videoing for home viewing.

PeerSpectives10 pp. 21-27.

Send Birthday Wishes /Thank You Notes to

Students/Colleagues

Students can post any

questions about the units

discussed, homeworkassignments, or class

schedule.

The teacher will get the

notification by email.

By putting the questions on

the wall, all other students can see and get the

information as well.

Class Question Board

Class Feedback Forum

- What do you

think of the

activity?

- What do you

like/don’t like?- How can you

make it better?-What do you

already Know

about the topic?- What do you

Want to know?

-What have you

Learned from the

Topic?

It’s quite practical in terms of keeping

and submitting the work as it's just one

click away to the link given

When I'm doing my writing assignment, I

also enjoy reading my friends' posts

By reading and learning some examples

from my friends' posts, I can create my

post more easily

What Students Say about Padlet

QUIZ

1. Give an example

how you would

use Padlet or word

cloud in your

teaching context.

2. Make a word

cloud out of your

bio and post either

the image or the

link here.

http://padlet.com/ninaseptina2009/iTDiMOOCTeacher

https://www.facebook.com/nina.septina

http://itdi.pro

Let’s get connected, share, learn

and inspire!