Quizlet is a Fun Vocabulary Learning Tool!

In April we learned how to create flashcards in Quizlet. This is a good tool for students to practice vocabulary. Here is a set I made to teach my Beginning High students pharmacy vocabulary.
Pharmacy Vocabulary in Quizlet
My students practiced the words on computers during classtime. They were also able to practice the words on their phones. I added pictures for most of the words and I clicked on the pronunciation, so the students could hear the words, too. I have also used this tool with the spelling/academic vocabulary words I give the students, when we are studying a new unit.
Go to the website under the How to's Tab to find a link to easy instructions.

Ask me if you need some more help with Quizlet. --Linda Laymon

Hello all, I want to run this past you for your consideration.

I've found it's a good mixer that even reluctant speakers enjoy, since it's all written out for them to say, they don't have to search for words.  They interview each other (there are two levels, one for beginners and one for a bit more advanced). Pictures for popular pass times are provided. They can exchange simple words in their languages, which they often get  kick out of.

After they finish the interview, they can give a report to the class about whom they spoke to and what they learned of another language.  It's fun and they get into it enthusiastically.  If the teacher speaks a language a particular unpaired student doesn't know, no one is left out.

Hope you find it useful. Page examples are from A Conversation Book 1:  English in Everyday Life, 3rd Edition, by Tina Kasloff Turner.

John
 

Teacher Tech Training held Friday, March 15

Teacher Tech Training was held last Friday at Sunrise Tech Center, room 14, after the Home Group meeting. We did a really fun activity that could be used in your classroom. We used Google Slides to make an interactive slideshow for each person to create their own simple slide about their favorite things to do. (You could use any topic in your classroom:  foods and nutrition, countries, cultural traditions, the sky is the limit!)

Here's the link to what we did in the training. Click on the link and then you can run the slideshow by clicking "Present" at the top right next to "Share"   Click on:  Teachers Favorite Things to Do

Here's the link to:  How to Make an Interactive Slideshow so you can try this with your students. Let us know how it worked out. If you need help, let me know (linda.laymon@sanjuan.edu).

We also learned about:  Quizlet.com and how to make fun flashcards for our students to further their vocabulary practice. They can use Quizlet on their phones too with the free Quizlet app.

See Jody Barker's post below for a slideshow about "How to make a slideshow." This could be used with your students to help them make a simple slideshow about their country. You can click on her student examples, too.

Preparing for Heritage Day

Before Heritage Day, I had my students create simple Google slideshows and present them to class. The making of them took 2 class periods and presenting a few more. I have included the instructions I use to give my students for making the slideshow (However, I present it step-by-step on the presentation station and create it with them and include the slideshow instruction demo on my class website, in case they are absent or need to review the instructions). I require that they create at least 5 slides. Examples of content:

• name, city, and country
• favorite food
• celebrations or traditions
• favorite places
• hobbies
• a famous person
• future goals

Click on this for Instructions for making a Google slideshow

Examples of student work:

Beginning:

Saeda --Syria

Maria -- Mexico

Alex - Ukraine

Intermediate:

Mei Ni-- Indonesia

Elena-- Romania

Fabricio -- El Salvador

TDLS 2019 Conference March 1-2, 2019

Angela Rodriguez, our Vice Principal, Marisol Richmond, and Linda Laymon represented the San Juan Adult Ed ESL teachers at the TDLS 2019 Conference at Hacienda La Puente Adult Education (near West Covina in the greater Los Angeles area). TDLS=Technology and Distance Learning Symposium. This is the birthplace of OTAN and its 30th anniversary.

Besides the apps and websites previously posted, there was so much more for us to learn. The three of us did not get to everything. We were the presenters for "Google Blog to Keep Your Teachers in the Loop" on Saturday. The attendees were very interested. They came away with ideas for their schools and they had the chance to create a blog.

• Ask us how to sign out of Google Gmail and apps remotely.
• Ask us how to use Google's new feature to create a Google account using any email account such as a Yahoo username and password.
• Ask us about using the apps Adobe Spark or FlipGrid to allow students to create short video presentations on their phones to present in class.
• Ask us about Augmented Reality.

Some new phone apps and websites we learned about in the TDLS Conference.

wordhippo.com  website to help students practice vocabulary

sockpuppets.com  website help students make puppet shows to practice their pronunciation

Quizlet.com  website is a fun way to help students learn and practice vocabulary

Flipgrid app helps students make videos

Jobpro app series:  Get Hired!  Get Prepared!  Get Dressed!

Facebook Builds Student Confidence and Learning by Susan Angelis (February, 2019)

One of our San Juan Adult Ed teachers, Susan Angelis, uses Facebook as a technology tool for her students. Through using the Facebook app, the students learn job skills and preparation, available community resources, networking, confidence building, and collaboration. Susan uses her two private Facebook class groups as Distance Learning. Most of the listening, reading, and writing homework she assigns is done on Facebook. She and the students post the class lesson and board photos. The students can access the program using desktop computers, iPads, tablets, Chromebooks, and smart phones anywhere. The students make their posts in Facebook by navigating the Internet using multiple search engines, Google drive, and websites to research academic topics. They learn how to use the privacy settings. They use online dictionaries to do spell check and websites to do grammar checks and cameras on their smart phones to photograph important lessons that they can transfer to Facebook, to post photographs of class activities and family photos showing their assigned activity such as going to the Library. The also learn the concepts of timeliness, to follow the rules set up for the private group, how to post, edit, copy, paste and delete posts. They learn the basics about Internet scams, hackers and become more aware of internet safety. 

The Facebook curriculum teaches:

• keyboarding skills (capitalization, punctuation)
• research skills
• English skills (listening to videos, reading articles, writing sentences, asking questions, using new vocabulary)
• conversation skills
• social English (life events, jobs, successes)
• social interaction
• technology skills
• accountability (messages about why they were absent)
• independent learning (to learn about homework assignments, view the photos of the classroom board from the day before, read announcements, and study for tests)
• leadership skills (academic posts, correct one another's grammar and spelling mistakes, take on classroom jobs)
• team work and collaboration (students support one another and respond to each other's questions and posts)
• job interview and resume tips
• community resources available
• students to be more involved in their children's education, back to school nights, open house, library nights, field trips, etc.
• American laws, culture, and holiday information
• Networking amongst the class on Facebook (share job interview experiences, certification process for certain jobs, job openings, travel experiences

Using Facebook to build students' confidence

• learning English and practicing writing, reading, listening, and speaking
• students are encouraged, acknowledged and rewarded for their Facebook participation, performance, keyboarding skills, research skills, and language improvement
• compliments come from the teacher, classmates, even the Principal and Vice Principal
• and the students set examples for each other: for example, when a few students post photos of going to the library with their children, or read with their children, go to the park or museum with their children, many students follow and post the same with their families.

How could you use Facebook in your classroom? What surprises you about the success of this teacher in using Facebook as an instruction forum?