elanguages creative collaboration for teachers globally
TRANSCRIPT
eLanguages
creative collaboration for teachers globally
What is eLanguages?
An online collaborative tool for teachers globally, developed by the British Council and Rages Ltd for the Department for Education and Skills
Multilingual (English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Japanese, Punjabi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati and Hindi versions)
Free at the point of use
Enables teachers to create and/or use collaborative resource-based projects
Offers each project 100 MB of space
clear layout multiple languages
structured projects
hello pages project / resource categories
What are the benefits?
Students… Teachers…
Present their work to the world
Learn from authentic resources
Connect with and learn from peers
Become global citizens
Cultural awareness
Language skills
ICT skills
Collaborate and create school links
Access and use authentic resources
Involve their students
Feel confident and in control
International dimension
Student-centred learning
Professional development
Why use eLanguages for school linking?
It is a site specifically designed for school use
Only verified teachers are allowed to have an account for creating and editing pages
As account holders become trusted, they are given a higher level of admin rights than they would do on similar sites
Teachers are able to ensure that the site is 100% safe for students to use
The site has a wide variety of tools under one roof. So, there is no need to learn the environments of a number of sites that only have one or two useful tools each
It has an effective search tool enabling teachers and students to quickly find the resource they need, rather than having to drill down a number of links
Most significantly, the site’s navigation tools and wizards are translated into the user’s native language making training much simpler
How does it work?
1
re-use existing resources
collaborate on a project and
create resources
find a partner teacher or join a project
2
teacher
How can I internationalise my classroom
activities
class
Browse or re-use resources
La vida de los alumnos en I .E.S Manuel de Falla
… for example Spanish resources, presentations, audio files, text files…
no membership is required
¿A qué hora te levantas?
¿Qué desayunas?
¿Cómo vas al cole?
¿A qué hora empiezas el cole?
¿Qué comes y a qué hora?
¿A qué hora acabas las clases?
¿Qué haces por la tarde?
¿A qué hora cenas?
¿Qué te gusta cenar?
¿A qué hora te vas a la cama?
click to open
Join existing projects
… find an interesting project, and join the project to create a school link and collaborate with a partner
Start your own project
… create your own project idea and invite others to join your project
Student contributions
Create forums to enable students to quickly and simply communicate a message without requiring an account
Use forums to enable students to read and compare the answers of a variety of students at another school without the need for email accounts
Example 1: What does that mean project
One form is required to start a new project
First we ask the teachers to define project stages…
1
2
3
4
5
A comprehensive range of resources can be added to the project stages (movies, sound files, pictures, galleries, text, polls, web links)
Resources are added to the project page by teachers, but can be created or sourced by either teachers or students
eLanguages project page
The complete project, with resources added to each stage
Example 2: From our own correspondent
User feedback
“It’s brilliant. I’ve been looking for a set of web tools for school links for the last two years. Even better, the instructions on how to use it are in the native language of the user. This means that the schools in Ariège I am currently working with will easily be able to put up pages with a minimum of training.”
Alex Savage, Advanced Skills Teacher, Norfolk
“Through my studies I have come across a large number of platforms recently, and what I have learned about eLanguages in the workshop makes it the best online platform I have seen so far.”
Sabine Huber, Munich Germany
about to complete her doctoral dissertation on the use of eLearning in English Language Teaching
“The eLanguages workshops were absolutely stunning. They certainly exceeded all my expectations. I had hoped to enjoy the visit but it has gone far beyond that. It has given me enthusiasm and I can’t wait to continue and do more projects.”
Mary Rick, Class Teacher Bonington Junior School
Contacts
For further information please contact:
Your local British Council office or contact:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/home-contact-worldwide.htm
The eLanguages team:
Neil Shaw: [email protected]
Ralph Genang: [email protected]
Or visit the eLanguages website: www.elanguages.org