A LANGUAGE TEACHING APPLICATION

This picture is taken from this websitethis website.

Hi everyone. :) This week, I will try to talk about a language teaching application as part of my task. Applications are one of our best supporters at language learning. The application I will talk about is Anki. Anki is a free service that enables you to either use the flashcards that are already prepared or prepare your own flashcards. You can use it without downloading, but if you download it, either to your computer or to your mobile phone, you'll have a lot more opportunities such as being able to add pictures and sound to your questions, and to be able to get shared decs. Downloading it is completely free. I will talk about the downloaded version on computer here. First, you'll see a screen like the following picture, click the add button to start forming flashcards:

 You can form them by using the instructions on the following picture.

Then, if you want to add more flascard into the same deck, then click on "add"; but, if you're done with the deck, then click on "close". After this, your screen will be like the following picture. If you want to get the already present decks, then click on "get shared".

Then, you'll be directed to the website of the application. There, you'll see some categories. By clicking on them, you can see the decks and download one of them. You can also see how many starts are given to each deck there. I chose Arabic and downloaded a deck about it.

After downloading, your screen will be like the following picture, Now, you can choose a deck and start studying it.

You can still edit the flascards, even the ones you get shared, while studying. When you see the question, try to guess the answer, After seeing the answer. you can rate question. The frequency of the question will chance according to your answer. For example, if you click on again, the question will appear more.

We can ask the students to list the sports they like and prepare a deck about them by using this app.

So, that was all. I hope you liked the application. See you. :)

MY DIGITAL STORYTELLING EXPERIENCE

This picture is taken from this website.

Thanks to technology, new ways of practising language have developed. My task for this week is also about this; about something new, which is a relatively young way to practise. I studied with my friend, Canan, for this project.

To tell the truth, I had a lot of difficulties while working on my project. Those difficulties were mostly about using the application I chose for the task, not about English. Firstly, me and my friend tried hard to find an application suitable for our purpose and we decided on Animaker. It is a good and relatively easy application to use when compared to other options. Since we were accustomed to voice recording from our podcast task, that part was not that hard for us. Still, to be able to form an animation, there are a lot of details to be considered. For example, we were almost done with our animation but then we decided to add a new sound. After this, we had to arrange all the sounds and pictures from the beginning. Neither of us knew a lot about technology. :) It was also hard for us to write a story. Here, I should thank to my friend Canan. :) We collaborated effectively with each other. It took three days for us to complete the project.

I believe that asking students to form a digital storytelling can be quite challenging for them, especially if they are young learners or kids. The steps of the process should be explained in details. If the steps are not explained, then the students will probably focus on animation, not on English and they will most likely to hate it when it is over. So, the students will probably not benefit from the digital storytelling process. However, when they have clear explanations, the process of forming a digital storytelling can be very funny and enjoyable way of studying English; because they form their own story, they form their own animation. Such things are very important for young learners and kids. When they watch their animation once the process is over, they will probably be proud of themselves and they will want to do the same task again.

To sum up, whether digital storytelling will be beneficial for the students or not heavily depends on teachers. If the teachers really want their students to benefit from it, they have to make some effort and prepare an outline for their students.

Here is the link of our digital storytelling: The New Friendship