Teacher Nik's English Teaching & Foodie World

*insert shameless sexy dance here* Today I'm taking a look at https://lyricstraining.com/ and as you might have guessed from the title, this is a music based website. But what does it do? Well firstly, as a language teacher or 'instructor' if ya nasty, we can't just consider what happens in the classroom,  we also want to both consider and promote autonomous learning. The more autonomous a language learner becomes, the more likely they are to achieve high language proficiency . Lyricstraining is exactly that, a tool we can use to promote autonomous learning outside the classroom. To use the lyricstrainer, the user simply inputs missing word from music videos that are being played.  When you first go to the lyricstraining website- you will note from the picture below, you can download it as an app to your smartphone or tablet device (very handy) However, I proceeded to the website version of Lyricstraining, and hit sign up for a free account: You might note here that you...

  Well hello again, today I want you to consider what is inevitable, death, taxes, Thanos (pictured) and of course 'change'. Everything changes over time whether we like it or not. One recent change and coming at us (Humanity) was, much like the villainous Thanos (when he tried to wipe out half the population) the dreaded 'Covid 19'  Sadly, we don't have The Avengers to fight this battle. So we need to adapt and change. Given how the pandemic has blighted the world of Teaching, it's no surprise to see the rise in use of various online technologies.  Today I am going to look at one of these technologies, namely 'Edmondo'  https://new.edmodo.com/  Now instead of me going through all the initial screens (signing up etc) here is a short video from Russell Stannard for complete beginners to Edmondo (note- Russell has a full playlist on Edmondo if you find this interesting) So the first thing to note is you can sign up as a teacher and as a student, I signed m...

 Along with the sunshine.... there's gotta be a little rain sometimes Let me take you on a journey, dear reader. Let's imagine a simpler time. Toy Story- the first ever computer animated film in history has just released, Windows 95 is in every household- terrorising people with 'fatal exceptions' and 'Clippy'. A mobile phone was, unbelievably, used primarily to make phone calls, and me? well I was about to murder my annoying younger sister- as she had allowed my lovingly nurtured Tamagotchi to perish. Siblings huh?  The year is 1995 and as well as the things I've just mentioned 'WebQuest' has just dropped What the hell is a WebQuest? I hear you cry, well fear not. Created by Bernie Dodge, PhD, he describes it as: "The goal then, and now, was to create lessons that make good use of the web, engage learners in applying higher level thinking to authentic problems, and use everyone's time well. Since that beginning, one of the ongoing challenge...

 Oh hello, me again. Second blog time. Today I am taking a look at Kahoot! a game based learning platform. Not to be confused with 'Cahoot' the online internet bank, which coincidently I used work at in the early 2000s, which sadly for the second blog in a row, reveals me to be an 'old git', anyway- on with the review. A Kahoot! put simply, is a multiple choice quiz that the user can create, in my case for learners, but this can easily be utilised by parents for extra learning or even social trivia nights with friends, (already I am planning a Lord of the Rings/Buffy Kahoot for my fellow nerds!)  But let's take a more in-depth look at the site: Organisation and Layout When I first clicked onto the Kahoot website, I won't lie, my initial reaction was "eww" what a dreadful home page, it's colourful, it's busy, it's packed with links. Once you have recovered from this initial visual onslaught, and started to navigate the site, you will find lo...

 A Blog about a blog, are you crazy? Firstly, welcome to my blog, I hope you will enjoy reading my (hopefully unique take) on various things. In this first blog post, I will be looking at  and reviewing the blog of Sandy Millin, who currently works freelance in the world of TEFL/TESOL.  Sandy has been active in the world of ELT since 2007, whence she completed her CELTA at Durham University.   To note- my review system will be a Nik-knack rating out of 5, with 5 Nik-knacks being a perfect score Upon first clicking on Sandy's blog, it has the unfortunate habit of 'auto scrolling' down the page, which is a somewhat of putting experience, regardless of the content. This happened on both mine, and a peer's laptops so does seem to be an issue with the blog sadly, anyhooo on with the review Organisation and Layout Following the initial hiccup, I looked at the organisation and the layout of the blog, with a colourful splash across the page and below Sandy's name, what ...