Herding Cats with Google Apps: A Modern Course Management Approach

This weekend my colleague Adam and I are presenting at WATESOL's Annual Conference in Rockville, Maryland. Our presentation focuses on using Google Drive, specifically Google Docs, as an inclusive, interactive calendar. Below you will find links to our presentation, calendar templates, etc. If you use any of the following materials, please let me know how they work in your own classroom and/or how you adapted them!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email either of us!
Ann Kumm | akumm@odu.edu
Adam Hembree | ahembree@odu.edu

PRESENTATION SLIDES
Presentation Link

LINK TO EXAMPLE CLASS
Example Class Schedule

CALENDAR TEMPLATES
You must "make a copy" to add these to your own drive and make them editable for your own use 
Calendar Templates         

VATESOL Annual Conference Presentation: Targeted Writing Activities for the ESL Grammar Class

Back again! My colleague Kathy Moulton and are presenting today at the VATESOL Annual Conference at Longwood University in Farmville, VA. Below you will find links to our presentation and the supplemental grammar activities we have created and/or adapted. If you use the materials, please let me know how they work in your own classroom and/or how you adapted them.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at akumm@odu.edu.

Supplemental Activities: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-HXrd-K3o9YMlItcXFRWUJYdnc&usp=sharing

Presentation Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-HXrd-K3o9Yem5MOGdQOWV5S0k/view?usp=sharing

VATESOL Middle Virginia Mini-Conference Presentation: Targeted Writing Activities for the ESL Grammar Class

My colleague Kathy Moulton and I are presenting today at the VATESOL mini-conference at Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, VA (see conference schedule here). Below you will find links to our presentation and the supplemental grammar activities we have created and/or adapted. If you use the materials, please let me know how they work in your own classroom and/or how you adapted them.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at akumm@odu.edu.

Supplemental Activities: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-HXrd-K3o9YMlItcXFRWUJYdnc&usp=sharing

Presentation Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-HXrd-K3o9YOVcxZ1ZmOE5FSVE/edit?usp=sharing

Vocabulary Resources and Course Platforms

I am currently teaching a TOEFL preparation course once a week on Saturdays, and have been putting together a pretty extensive list of resources on our class website. Since I only see them once a week, I wanted to provide them with as many resources as possible that they could use to practice and learn on their own time ("yay" for intrinsic motivation!). 

I use the CourseSites course platform, which is a course management system that is exactly the same as Blackboard (they own it), but it is for individual instructors instead of institutions. I find this platform useful for a few reasons: (1) it exposes and familiarizes students with a course management system that many colleges use, thus they need to be comfortable with it; (2) it also allows them to only have to visit one site for all of their needs (grade book, blogs, discussion boards, homework, announcements, etc.); and (3) I already know how to use it. The last one is pretty selfish, though I feel the other two reasons outweigh my selfishness. I'll write a longer blog post about CourseSites later. I still strongly believe that the English Language program I work for should have access to Blackboard considering the rest of the university has access, but that is a topic for another time. 

I'll start my list of resources with the vocabulary resources and websites I have found over the past year. Let me know if you've ever used any of these before, or if you have any to add to the list! I'd love to have feedback and continue growing my list. 

Traditional(ish) Dictionaries:

1. Wordsmyth | A leveled dictionary with an integrated thesaurus. I really like the ability students have to choose a level (beginner to advanced) for each word. Another great component is the "Word Explorer". Look up grain to see the full potential of this component: Click Here for Example. You also have the ability to create word lists and make your own quizzes and/or puzzles, though I haven't taken advantage of this resource,
2. Longman Online Dictionary | This is my favorite dictionary to use in the classroom. The sense relations are ordered in a way that reflects usage. What this means is that definition one is the meaning that is most often meant by the word. You'd think all dictionaries would do this, but that would make it too easy. Many word entries also contain collocation information as well. 
3. Merriam Webster’s Learners Dictionary |
4. Phrasal Verb Dictionary (EnglishPage) | In addition to explaining phrasal verbs, this site offers a pretty comprehensive list of phrasal verbs that you may look up by letter. I found it useful in a recent class when students all knew different definitions of the same phrasal verb due to the fact that lists the different meanings each phrasal verb can have. It also codes for whether or not he phrasal verb may be separated or not and if an object can intrude. Click the photo below to expand the example.
   
5. Online Etymology Dictionary | I often like to be able to explain the origin of words to more advanced students. It also helps when considering the spelling words as well! English spelling shouldn't be learned by memorization, because luckily it isn't as arbitrary as it may seem when we take into account sound correspondences and origin. Here is an article on this subject. Also a great way to see a visual representation of a word's etymology is to type "Etymology of ______" into Google. It automatically will come up with a tree diagram. An example for broccoli is below.
   

Visual Dictionaries:

1. Visuwords | This is an online graphical dictionary that uses mind maps with labeled links and nodes. I think this one can be a little confusing due to the fact that for some words it has an overwhelming amount of informarion, though I am sure I just haven't fiddled with it enough.
2. Vidtionary | This is an awesome video dictionary. It is an ongoing project, so they are continually adding new words! Note that many abstract words are by nature hard to visualize, so as you can imagine, most academic lexical items are not a part of this dictionary. Many teachers these days are incorporating the idea of video dictionaries in their own classrooms by having students create short entries (i.e. videos) for vocab words. The New York Times Learning Network did a contest recently asking students to make short 15 second vocabulary videos. Other websites you could use to do this are Vine, Instagram, or even YouTube. Larry Ferlazzo writes about this on his blog, and shows examples of his own students' videos.
3. VocabAhead | The study room section of this website contains audiovisual representations of words. I haven't used this one before, but many others seem to like the additional components available (e.g., complete crosswords, take quizzes, create word lists, share words). I believe it was intended for SAT prep, but the words are applicable to those learning English for academic purposes.

Web Tools

1. Lingro | Lingro is a free tool that turns any website or text file into an interactive dictionary that allows users to click on a word to see its definition and hear its pronunciation. There are many other features that this site offers (such as saving all of the words you click into a list and then allowing you to play word games), but I haven't fiddled with them too much. Have you used this website before? I'd love to hear how!
2. WordSift | Wordsift is a free tool that allows you to sift through texts to quickly identify important words (words on the AWL, subject-specific, general service list, etc.) in an interactive word cloud, or "tag cloud" as they call it. Other tools are also integrated into the site, such as the Visual Thesaurus, Google searches of online images and video, and full sentences from the text if you interact with the cloud. Below are screenshots of a sample "tag cloud" as well as the additional tools I mention above (click to enlarge photos!):

   

   Used sample text WordSift provided

   
   

   

   Demonstrating additional features

Word Lists

1. TOEFL Essential Campus Vocabulary | Many of the listening comprehension dialogues on the TOEFL include not only academic vocabulary but also campus vocabulary, such as advisor, ace the test, curve, dean's list. This list includes relevant vocabulary as well as additional information such as notes and example sentences. It appears to have been put together by the Minerva Language Center in Bulgaria. I don't know if they have any additional resources on their website, but if there are more like this, I'd like to know!
2. Academic Word List | The Academic Word List was created by Averil Coxhead (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand). The list is comprised of 570 words—3,000 if counting all forms (deivations and inflections) of each word—chosen based on their frequency in academic texts. The list is divided into sublists based on frequency of use. 
• I'm also including a link to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary's AWL which allows you to click on the word for an immediate definition. Note that this dictionary includes both British and American spellings (e.g. analyse and analyze).
3. Technical/Area Specific Vocabulary | List of technical vocabulary words that are separated by category from Michigan State. All lists are accompanied by audio files that allow student's to hear pronunciation.Categories include: mathematics, statistics, chemistry, periodic table, biology, physics, engineering, computer science, Greek letters, economics, civil engineering, genetics, business. 

Online Games

1. Knoword | Knoword is a really fun game to expand vocabulary. It used a minimalist design, which is nice because it doesn't feel like it was designed for young learners (like so many word games are in our field). There are three difficulty levels, though I find hard to be quite difficult. I would gauge the "easy" questions as intermediate/upper-intermediate. You can play without creating an account. But if you do, you have the ability to save word preferences lists and see your statistics and ranking. I like sharing this game with my students because it requires a range of strategies. I even enjoy playing this game myself! Here is a description from their website:"Knoword is a quick thinking game that helps boost vocabulary, spelling, speed of thought, as well as increasing analytical, observational and typing skills." 
2. Greek and Latin Roots (Scholastic) | Simple interactive game to practice roots with two levels (easy and hard).

Vocabulary Journals/Notebooks

Here are few different variations of vocabulary entries I have found to be useful:

1. I found this example from Nesrin Erin's Matters in ELT, ESL, EFL. This link will take you to the entry where she included this sample vocabulary entry along with lesson ideas. What I find useful about this entry is its comprehensiveness, yet simplicity. Another idea is to make a Google form that includes the categories listed on this example (connotation, forms, sentences, etc.) and have students collaboratively create a class vocabulary journal over the course of a few days. Then, you may choose to review the journal in class for accuracy or clarification.

1.