Recording (7h): http://lancelot.adobeconnect.com/p6gl3uvvveb/
The ELTons, sponsored by Cambridge ESOL, are the only international awards that recognise and celebrate innovation in English language teaching (ELT). They reward educational resources that help English language learners and teachers to achieve their goals.
Johanna Stirling is a freelance ELT consultant. This involves teaching, teacher training, materials writing and presenting. She mainly works for Cambridge University Press and Norwich Institute for Language Education where she is a NILE Associate Trainer. She has a special interest in teaching spelling and whatever project she finds herself working on at any particular moment.
Teaching Spelling to English Language Learners is a reference and resource book for teachers. It presents a fresh and effective methodology for teaching spelling and provides answers to three key questions: Why is there a problem with teaching and learning spelling? What can be done to improve teaching? How can this be accomplished? The book offers a multidimensional approach to the subject, which includes teaching spelling patterns and strategies, practising, correcting and testing spelling, common errors and the use of humanistic approaches to making learning enjoyable and effective. There is a wide range of engaging activities included, some with photocopiable worksheets.Teaching Spelling has been self-published to give the author complete control over the content. It has been very well-received so far, having collected a Special Commendation in the British Council’s Award for ELT Writing (2012) and numerous favourable reviews. And now an ELTons nomination!
Paul Driver is a language teacher, researcher, teacher trainer, graphic designer and illustrator lecturing at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro in northern Portugal. His main research interests focus on the combined roles of play, space, the body, media, architecture, technology and game dynamics in how we learn. He is currently leading several ongoing projects exploring the educational application of pervasive games, mobile technologies and locative storytelling for learners of English as a foreign language.
Spywalk is a location-based urban game designed to combine the affordances of mobile devices and physical settings to create interactions between players and their environment. The aim is to provide an engaging opportunity for embodied, context-relevant, dynamic language emergence outside the classroom. The gameplay traverses the city as students record detective-style audio monologues, film and take photographs whilst tracking a live GPS signal transmitted from a briefcase as they avoid the hidden camera…
#eltpics is a suite of free online resources for ELT practitioners based around a crowdsourced collection of over 13,000 photographs donated by teachers and those who work in ELT. The images are donated via Facebook and twitter and a group of curators tag and upload them to relevant sets on the #eltpics flickr site. These images are then available for classroom use, without charge, under a Creative Commons Licence.
“Take a photo and…” is the blog where guest writers, including materials writers, share ideas about using #eltpics in the classroom.
“The Burning Questionnaire” contains interviews with contributors to “Take a photo and…”.
The initial project was set up by Victoria Boobyer, Carol Goodey and Vicky Loras. Fiona Mauchline started the Take a Photo and.. and The Burning Questionnaire blogs a year later. The curating team now also includes Julie Raikou and Mieke Kenis. There are too many contributors to mention. The project has been shortlisted in the Innovation in Teacher Resources category. The suite can be accessed via www.eltpics.com
Özge Karaoğlu is an English teacher, teacher trainer in teaching young/very young learners, teaching with web based technologies.. She has been developing animations, digital games and smartphone applications with her young learners for the last four years. She has a blog where she writes about teaching English through technology and web based tools. She is teaching in kindergarten and enjoying every minute of it.
The project: Apps By kids
Apps By Kids is a collection of mobile application that are created by kindergarten students who are only 5 years old. The children drew the pictures, coloured and animated the pictures in the animation studio. They also recorded their voices for each of the characters. Three of the applications are stories that are inspired by children. The last of these apps series is an online dictionary with children’s voices. The apps are free and can be downloaded to your iPhone/iPad or Android devices. The project has been led by Özge and the It teacher, Demet Küyük. The app series has been nominated in the digital innovation in Eltons.