2014 CAIS Southern Regional Meeting-Active Language Learning Community 加州独立学校学会讲座-网络互动设计

A Very Short Chinese Version:
课外互动：voicethread, 布置回家作业最好用，
请看http://proficienttoday.blogspot.com/2013/05/voicethread-voice-words-visual.html 如何使用。
一门课内互动－案例话题：旅游：animoto, google site. 第一二天，布置任务建立评分标准，建立初稿；第二三天，用google site的comment功能互相修改，完成做短片的准备工作；第四五天，用animoto （有网路和手机应用）制作短片；第五六天，用google site互相评论短片。
多门课互动－案例话题：春节吉祥话，“话”友：第一二天，准备，学习不同表达法；第三天，录影/录音，在google site上发表，和别班分享；第四－五天，别班回复。
请看http://proficienttoday.blogspot.com/2014/02/animoto-easy-breezy-for-movie-project.html，http://proficienttoday.blogspot.com/2013/09/new-school-year-new-attitude.html，如何使用animoto, google site.

Resources:
Symbaloo, organization tool for online resource collection: http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/顧老師(my collection)
Voicethread, interactive recording
Vocaroo, back-up online recording, no interactive feature
Animoto, online & app. video maker
Google Site, platform for work display, peer-peer/teacher-student interaction
Proficient Today, blog of my own experience of using these resources in class
http://animoto.com/play/LI0mFvV2mfFcokJ80QS36g, 30 sec. quick video of all steps of all lessons

Lesson 1 Connect Outside Classroom
Voicethread $79.00/year, create unlimited content, add 50 members to a class group by uploading Excel roster
Best for interactive homework assignment

• Step 1- Create, upload image or video, which can be recorded directly or uploaded
• Step 2- Comment, record audio/text/video doodle, pointing out details in a image while recording 
• Step 3-Share, generate a link, check "allow to comment", or email to the group directly.  Click "manage comment", so only the commenter and creator can see the thread.

Other benefits: recycle materials created for various purposes, threads can be copied without copying all comments or only with the creator's comment.
Read more about Voicethread:
http://proficienttoday.blogspot.com/2013/05/voicethread-voice-words-visual.html

Lesson 2 Connect Within One Class -Topic: Travel, Places
Animoto, free, 30 sec. video; $5/month or $30/year, 10 min. videos
Google Site, free
Best for in-class interaction, homework

• Day 1-2, provide contexts (Suggestion of Where to Go/What to Do for Hosting Family and Exchange Students), create framework (guiding questions, create rubrics for giving suggestion), start creating work (1st draft of any sort, verbal, in writing, story board etc.).  Google Site can be used in any point to record the progression using commenting, editing google page.
• Day 2-3, improve work, peer editing, finish materials needed for the movie. Use Google Site's commenting and replying (to comment) features. 
• Day 3-4, produce movie.  Use Animoto, upload image, add text, add background, add music, all provided by the tool.  This tool is online and also has an app.  Work done on either platform is synced.  No need to borrow video cameras, one smart phone can let students finish the whole project. 
• Day 4-Day 5, publish work, review others' work, comment. Again, use Google Site. At this point, students are very familiar with the functions and how to interact with each other's work. 

Read more about Animoto:
http://proficienttoday.blogspot.com/2014/02/animoto-easy-breezy-for-movie-project.html

Lesson 3 Connect With Other Language Classes - Teach Spanish classes Chinese New Year Greeting, Make Voicethread friends with Chinese classes of different levels, Study Abroad Fair
Voicethread, Google Site, Animoto
Best for reaching out to other classes

• Day 1-2, learn expressions/vocabulary, create one's own expressions.  i.e., read other's self-introduction, a pen pal letter, practice greetings with classmates.
• Day 3, create videos for Spanish classes, record self-introduction and questions for Voicethread friend, organize materials for producing study abroad video.
• Day 4, publish videos/recordings on Google Site, using comment or saved on Animoto account.
• Day 5, other classes view the work and comment via Google Site, using reply, show study abroad videos at Study Abroad Fair open to the whole senior class.

And the interactive cycle continues, the community stays alive... :)

Animoto: Easy Breezy for Movie Project 轻松简单做电影

（Reminder: Just want to know what Animoto can do, scroll down and explore later! :)

Before delving into this online tool, Animoto, just pause for a moment and wonder aloud why we step out of traditional classroom setting and try these tools that move the lesson outside the brick-and-mortar classroom. This is a legitimate question, which was raised by one of my colleagues weeks ago, "why I need to step out of my comfort zone?". Yes, you are heading to a unfamiliar territory.  The fancy websites, online presentations, videos, etc. all look simple. Yet it indeed takes a lot of time to prep these projects and no matter how well you think you are prepared, there are issues, the link is broken, the internet connection is down, and on and on.  The direct benefit is that some paper is saved and hopefully, more trees.  But what else?

The answers blended/online learning experts provide is that using these online tools/resources help increase students' engagement.  However, why the-teacher-and-the-material combination is not enough?  My personal experience as a student (very recently, I finished some schooling in 2011) is that after having a class for a while, things become routine and this interesting individual who happens to be a teacher could become boring, merely because I see this person so often in the same context.  Many people I talked to, including adults who have to sit in long workshops (although feels long, usually an hour maximum), told me "I wish (the teacher, the presenter, the speaker) let us do something."  Well, using these online tools to make something could be much more easier and sometimes more exciting than, say, making a poster using markers and construction paper, using real camera to shoot a real movie, or putting on role-play with props.  Anecdotal Evidence? If I have time, I would never make another display board instead of showing a dynamic presentation. Animoto as well as many other tools can make you one of those presentations. More anecdotal evidence? When you tell students, we are going to use Animoto (what, oh animation, movie) make a movie out of the script you just wrote. Their eyes become bigger (I am talking about poker-faced teenagers) and they will ask you every single day when they can start. At least that happened to me.  I can switch the tool name and objectives of activities but the reaction is pretty much the same, "I wanna do it; I wanna do it."

Now, you are convinced; let's talk about Animoto, http://animoto.com/.  I used to hate it because I love iMovie.  Granted, Animoto could hardly make any iMovie kind of production.  But I tried Animoto app.; and that changed my opinion.  As a pro Chinese or any kind of typer, I can make a short movie-like presentation within 5 minutes.  What you produced on the phone will automatically synced with your online account.  What Animoto allows you to do is simple, uploading video or image, adding text, providing you with cute background animation and upbeat music, and finally sharing via online social media, link, email, etc. Free account allows you to make 30 sec. videos; $5/month subscription or $30/year allows you to make 10-min. video.  To me, 30 sec. free account is enough. I realize that 30 sec. rule forces students to edit their words so they fit in the time frame.  It can't match the iMovie quality but it makes a movie project possible.  Many kids actually manage to finish the whole presentation on their phone.  That's quite amazing.

Animoto可以帮你把呆板的幻灯片变成集动画音乐一体的小短片。你可加载自己的录影和图片，加字幕，这个网络工具提供背景动画和音乐 ，最后分享做完的作品。背景动画其实设计得非常棒，音乐也都很活泼得体。学生可以轻松使用这个工具，几乎不需要老是指导。免费的帐号可做30秒的短片，5美金一个月或者30美金一年的用户可做10分钟的短片。不过我觉得30秒足够了。因为只有30秒，学生得编辑浓缩自己的字幕，是个不错的找中心意思的练习。 我以前并不怎么喜欢Animoto， 可是最近发现它有手机应用。手机上完成的小电影会直接上传到网上帐号。在手机/平板电脑上用这个工具就更快捷更方便，我可以在5分钟内搞定一个电影。

If you haven't played with Quizlet 如果您还没试Quizlet

I knew Quizlet long time ago, seven years ago, when I was still in graduate school, in my language teaching method class.  Compared what we have now, it was like stone-age seven years ago.  There was no smart phone, no tablet, and no cloud.  Laptops were not quite common yet.  Computer-based learning tools, at least in my eyes at that time, were really just entertaining novelty, used to attract some brief attention from students.  Quizlet was no exception.  It sounded like an interesting idea to generate a test using web-based template (that might save you some time), have students take a test online, and learn the result immediately.  However, I couldn't see what the fuss was about.  It didn't look too different from writing a test on a piece of paper and having someone take it.

But the landscape of learning has changed dramatically.  So has Quizlet.  What brought Quizlet back to my attention is not that it had been mentioned many times at various workshops.  The reason why I started to look into Quizlet more is that one student of mine, who had a few challenges this year including organization issues, uses this website to create his vocabulary flashcards.  Making flashcard is rated, among my 51 students this school year, one of the most helpful homework assignments.  My jaw slightly dropped when I learned that because it is such a tedious task.  However, storage of flashcards is not easy for high school students, considering all the learning materials they have, binders, notes, notecards, and etc.  Quizlet apparently stands out as a solution to this problem.  It is also possible that at least for one student Quizlet makes this assignment less tedious.

Moreover, Quizlet itself has evolved.  It is no longer a website tool to generate multiple-choice quizzes.  It actually becomes an application that enables us to create full-scale comprehensive learning kits and provides us with web space for storage.  You can put flashcards, images (visual), pronunciation (audio), games, tests, and so on in this kit.  There are so many easy-to-use-with-easy-to-follow-instruction functions and/or resouces.  Just name a few here I found helpful, copying and printing the set you create (could be a test, a set of vocabulary list, or both), importing list (word or excel) you already made, choosing input from pinyin or characters, and exporting the link.  Most importantly, you have options between a free account, which you can do a lot with, and a $25-per-year teacher account, which is a small fee considering buying a resource book.  And yes, your guess is right; Quizlet has tons of resources created by other users, more than 5000 Chinese lessons, not just lessons on basics but lessons with specific tests (HSK, AP) or textbooks (Chinese Link, Integrated Chinese) in mind.  You don't even have to create a new account (one more thing likely we forget).  You can sign up simply with your Goolge or Facebook account.  I haven't played with this new toy yet, but I am pretty sure i will.

早在七年前， 读硕士生语言教法时， 我就知道了Quizlet这个网站。当时的教学环境和现在比起来完全是石器时代。那时没有智能手机，平板电脑，手提电脑都还是很不寻常的电子产品。 所以当时我并不觉得网络工具有多大用途，不过是些娱乐性的新玩艺用来吸引一下学生的注意力。

七年来课堂教学发生了很多变化。再次激起我研究一下Quizlet的意愿的是我的一个学生。这位同学这个学年遇到不少学习困难。其中整理学期材料是一大难题。用Quizlet做生词卡帮他解决了这个问题。

Quizlet本身已经从专做小考试题的网络模版变成了制作储存全套学习资料的全方位网络工具。用Quizlet可以做生词卡，考试， 练习小游戏，可以放图片，录音。Quizlet本身简单易用，每个功能还有简明的操作指导。本人觉得极有用的一个功能是将现成的表格直接转入变成可分享的网上资源链接。你不用建立新户名，可以用谷歌还是脸书账户注册Quizlet的免费账户或者付一年25美金升级为教师账户。25美金比起买其他教具是个小数目。Quizlet上还有其他用户制作的5000多个课件，这些课件并不只是简单词汇表，而是根据汉语水平考试，ap考试，中文天地等标准化考试和常用教科书编写的。当然我自己还没有仔细揣摩每一个功能，不过我相信一定会找到自己觉得最有用最顺手的一个。

Say Your Comments 语音评语

One of the major time-consuming tasks for teachers is grading work and giving feedback.  Various studies on learning has showed the importance of feedback.  The work assigned by you and finished by students is useless to improve learning without your feedback.  However,  a lot of us do wonder whether students pay attention to the feedback we carefully constructed.  It seems that the kids just glanced at those sentences for less a second.  The same sentences you have spent quite a few minutes writing, making sure that you offer sincere suggestion but not too harsh to hurt any young, creative minds.

I am not sure if we give feedback in a different manner will help.  But I don't think it will hurt to try something new.  A month ago, at the workshop provided by our school's art teacher, I learned that you can leave voice comments on pdf. document using Adobe Acrobat Professional.  Most of us are familiar with Adobe Acrobat Reader, the program we use to read pdf. documents.  And most of the time, the utility of the program stops here.  Adobe has many other powerful, renown programs.  However, I doubt any teachers will use Photoshop to correct papers.    

Using Adobe Acrobat Professional, you can leave your feedback in voice.  Students do not need to have Acrobat Professional to hear these feedbacks.  You can also leave writing comments on their work.  All the Word and PowerPoint documents can be saved as pdf. document.  This is extremely helpful when you hope students can collect feedbacks of their PowerPoint presentations and other work.  Have students save the PowerPoint slides they create as pdf. document and share with you first.  When students give the presentation, you can give the feedback in class and meanwhile, record these comments onto their pdf. presentation document and later share with students.

Depending on how much you speak and how fast you can type, recording the feedback might save you some time or not.  Recording the comments also give students an alternative way to view the feedback. I can imagine listening to the comments can benefit students with reading difficulties and those audio leaners.  And it might peak students interest and encourage them to listen to what their teachers have to say exactly.

在最近的一次校内讲座里，学到了一个老软件的新功能。大家一定都知道adobe acrobat，我们用来看pdf文件的软件。adobe acrobat professional的软件不仅可以让你看pdf文件，批注，也可以让录下语音批注。

批作业留评语是我们老师的一项重要工作。不少研究教学成果的报告都提到有针对性的
，及时的作业评语对学生学习的帮助。有时候我却不免纠结，小朋友到底有没有用心看我们老师们仔细斟酌后写下的评语。不知道录下语音评语是否可以让学生们有兴趣听听老师到底有什么重要讯息要传递。对阅读有障碍的学生和喜欢用听力接收信息的学生，语音评语对他们而言应该是个福音。

所有的word和powerpoint文档都可以被保存为pdf文档。学生不需要有acrobat professional的软件来看或听老师给的评语，普通的adobe acrobat reader就行了。学生做powerpoint报告时，老师常常在课堂直接给评语。如果让学生事先把他们的报告保存为pdf文档，传送给老师，老师可以直接把课堂上说的评语录下来。这样学生也可以收集这些评语。既然评语如此重要，保存老师的评语，比较评语，一定可以帮助学生看到自己的进步以及需要改进的地方。

New Online Tool-MYLO 新的網上工具-MYLO

Recently, one of the teachers at school referred me to this awesome website MYLO (he learned from Guardian resources for educators).  MYLO has resources for several different languages including Spanish, German, and Mandarin Chinese (in simplified characters).  It actually has well designed content and the topics cover a wide range from basics to more advanced ones, from pinyin, characters to daily life (school life, greetings, shopping, using internet, and ect.)

The graphics are cute enough but not overly childish looking.  It has listening comprehension part (the lesson) and the speed of the speech is normal, not overly slow.  It has games/little quiz for vocabulary that you can listen to the word with the English explanation and find matching Chinese words with pinyin. I really like this design because it provides ample scaffolding for learners.  It assess students' comprehension of the words without overburdening students.  Most importantly, registration is completely free for educators as well as for students.  We, teachers, like free stuffs, don't we?  So check MYLO out: http://www.hellomylo.com/Basic/Chinese, http://www.hellomylo.com/Challenge/Chinese

各位中文老師朋友們, 最近發現一個特別好用, 設計風格可愛卻不過分幼稚的網站: MYLO. 這個網站有基礎篇和挑戰篇. 基礎篇比較適合初中級的中小學生. 基礎篇里差不多涵蓋了初中級漢語都會講到的話題, 從拼音寫漢字認字到日常生活. 每個話題都設計了可以聽加圖或者聽加文字的課文, 用來幫助學生練習聽力很棒. 每個話題也有配對等遊戲幫助測試學生對生詞的理解. 生詞配對的練習里, 學生可以點英文解釋聽相應中文生詞的發音, 中文生詞也帶拼音, 提供給學生很好的輔助信息, 學生做練習學習生詞也沒有很大壓力. 還有小測試和比賽, 都可以讓課堂氣氛更活躍, 也可以讓測試學習成果的活動更有意思.

最重要的是這個網站對學生老師完全免費, 難得很. 大家都可以去網站瀏覽一下: http://www.hellomylo.com/Basic/Chinese, http://www.hellomylo.com/Challenge/Chinese

Flipped Classroom

I always admire those who come up with awesome names that capture the essence of complicated phenomena.  Well, I am not sure who invented the term, but flipped classroom (FC) is one of these terms that are becoming more and more popular.  My understanding of FC is to interchange the venue and focus of the classroom, from outside the physical classroom to the real physical space, from teacher-centered activities to student-centered activities, from individual work to team work, etc.

Even in the almost school-work free summer, I have already heard about/read FC twice.  Because it is summer and I am leaving in 2.5 hours to attend OPI workshop in Middleburry, I simply want to share this article, which basically have a run-down of how a flipped classroom looks like.  And in addition, the second time I heard about/read this cloud tool, Learning Catalytics, which allows teacher to post questions and access students' answers almost simultaneously.  It also allows students post question to each other and to access other related information global wise.

Here we go: http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2013/01/23/6-Expert-Tips-for-Flipping-the-Classroom.aspx?m=1&Page=1 (easy to read)

http://online.qmags.com/CPT0113/default.aspx?pg=32&mode=1#pg32&mode1 (hard to read, but you can watch the video of the professors talking about their FC experience)

ICICE 2013 第八界全球華文網路教育研討會講稿

Share my presentation slide from International Conference on International Chinese Education, a big shout out to Dr. Cathy Wei at Pasadena City College and many other who work so hard to make this happen.  I have had a really great experience sharing and exchanging ideas with Chinese instructors, from all over the world.  Another highlight I have to mention here, great food and snacks, great opening, great performance (by native Taiwanese children choir, correct me if I am wrong).

想在這裡和大家分享我在第八界全球華文網路教育研討會講稿的講稿。特別感謝帕薩地娜城市大學的魏教授和其他工作人員，如此努力，才使這次會議特別難忘。也想特別贊美會議的精美早茶餐點，還有臺灣原住民童聲合唱團的表演。請看講稿吧！

Blog Is Still In-Digital Portfolio to Assess and to Engage

I just finished reading "Assessing Student Progress Using Blog-based Portfolio" by Kathy Cassidy.  The article link was listed on ACTFL's email news digest.  So I have some faith that the mentioned approach is appropriate for the language classroom as well.

I used portfolio for a few occasions.  When I was a graduate student at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and took the language teaching method class, I had to create a portfolio, a physical one with the binder, cover sheets, and artifacts (I put in photos, CDs, and etc.).  The process was a bit messy.  But the result was actually very beneficial.  I continued to add to the physical binder when I started teaching and eventually burned a CD portfolio, which is easy to carry around.  I don't know for sure but I think it helped me land my second job.  When I taught Spartanburg Day School, an IB (International Baccalaureate) school, we all used portfolio to store and assess students' work.  Again the portfolio is a physical folder or a binder.  Again, a lot of paper and organization was involved.  A fun, and a bit messy process, all in all.  However, portfolio is definitely the most telling piece when the teacher, the student, and the parents want to see the progress (considered as the summative assessment).  I didn't think the portfolio at that time was more useful than any other paper evidence to indicate any changes the teacher might make for the instruction (considered as formative assessment, assessment of students' learning to inform the teacher how effective is the teaching).  The real challenge is to make the physical portfolio.  Collecting all the pieces, selecting the keepers, and tossing out the "junk"; it is time consuming.  For those who lack focus or organization skills, this process is frustrating.

Although I haven't used blog as the digital portfolio, I can see its potential to replace the binder.  First of it, it is easier to browse and organize the content.  Usually blog automatically organize all entries chronically.  The author can also create tags, which are common themes of these entries, and organize the posts using these tags.  To browse, one can either scroll down, or click on specific time or tags.  To delete and to add things are just clicks away.  Videos, photos, and other media can be easily embedded, edited, and viewed by the author as well as by the audience.  Assistance from the adults are still needed, in my opinion.  Giving assistance is a way of getting involved.  There are many other ways to engage the larger community, for example, share these blogs and invite community members to comment on these blogs.  Safety and privacy is an issue.  But you might just lose your binder and the whole world can see what's in it (or at least the whole school to see).  Losing binders, nowadays, happen more often.

Organize, equally important 整理收集也很重要

After almost an entire school year of careful experiment and evaluation, I bet we have collected several useful online tools and various resources that we want to try in the future.  One question is how we organize and keep these resources.  Bookmarks used to be the answer, when we only visit a few links during the Internet stone-age years.  Nowadays, we encounter countless pieces of digital information.  Bookmarks can hardly keep up with our digital collection.  I don't even know what I keep in my bookmark folders or possibly there aren't any folders.

I came across Symbaloo, an online application that help organize Internet resources or stuffs (i.e. links, webpages, etc.), when I went to a language professional day.  The lady who teaches at Highpoint in Pasadena taught us several amazing tools.  How did she showcase those awesome tools?  She showed it on Symbaloo.  I will dig out her name and tell you all later.  But a big thank-you to her here!

I like Symbaloo, because it has a very sleek design.  It also has a cool namel.  Using Symbaloo, now you can make a Webmix.  Whoever came up with the name, webmix, captures the essence of Symbaloo's function.  Organize all the Internet stuffs you use and put them in a mix. You create a nice-looking tile for each link and put them in a collage that makes sense to you.  Like many other personal tools, you can name your own webmix, customize the background, customize the colors of tiles, and so on.  Pretty much everything online has some social media flare.  You can search for others' webmixes on Symbaloo and make yours public or share with other users.  Symbaloo also has a division for education with online resources related to teaching and learning.

So instead of going through the jungle of bookmarks, you have a neat-looking pretty tile collection that has all the essential Internet stuffs you need.

一個學年下來, 我們一定收集了很多有用的網上資訊和工具。 不久以前的網路石器時代,我們還可以用書簽功能來整理這些信息。 可現在每天我們都收集到巨大量的資訊.  我已經根本不記得我的書簽文件夾裡有甚麼內容了。

最近在一次進修時我知道了Symbaloo這個非常管用的法寶。Symbaloo設計簡約順暢。你可以把常用的網上鏈接做成一塊塊的圖標，排列起來，一目了然。你可以給每個鏈接集取個好記的名字，你也可以設計整個鏈接合集的外觀。你可以搜索起他用戶的鏈接集，也可以和朋友分享你的鏈接集。Symbalo也有專門和教育有關的Symbalo Education, 裡面有不少教學用得到的網上資料和工具。

Voicethread-Voice, Words, Visual 影音文字

There are many online recording application/devices, GoogleVoice, AudioDropBox by CLEAR (Center for Language Education and Research at Michigan State University, p.s.: CLEAR has many other awesome rich internet application as well), and etc. They all have their own pros and cons; fairly speaking, most of them are easy to use.  Amongst these tools, Voicethread is one of my favorite and most suitable for online community building, in my opinion.

Simply put, Voicethread is a multi-media online interaction platform.  It is extremely useful for language classroom.  You can upload both images and videos.  Then create a class and invite students to comment on your Voicethread post, where all students have access to each other's comments.  Students can type their comments (Chinese characters can be displayed here), record audio-only comments, and record video comments.  Uploading images or your own video, for example, your own talking head, is quite neat.  What really peaks my interest is that students can also listen to and watch others' input.  Each student can customize his/her own account, for example, upload a picture of Sponge Bob as his/her profile picture, which can be a biggie for teenagers.  In short, it gives students a feeling of being a member of a dynamic group; plus, it is on the Internet.  

The free account only allows you to upload 5 posts.  However, the $79 one-year single-educator membership let you create 50 students' accounts and upload unlimited posts.  Apparently using the paid account, you also have phone commenting minutes and a customized web address.  But I haven't used these functions.  I will explore more and write a follow-up post, just to show how much I love this tool.

I feel the most exciting piece of all functions is Video Doodle.  After uploading the video, you can use the webcam icon and record a video comment while a pen will also appear on your screen.  Now you can pause the video or let the video play, use the pen icon to point/circle/underline/other motions, and record your comment in real time.  This is another good tool to give instructions or have students comment on specific details in the visual.  Also, it is slightly different from other tools and that's why it is fun.

语言教学的大方向是以实用为主，所以老师们都努力培养学生的开口能力。在非沉浸式的语境下，学生常常只能在课堂上练习口语。各种网络的录音系统给学生提供了课堂内外的练习机会。 GoogleVoice, 密歇根州立大学语言教学研究中心的AudioDropBox等等都是不错的网络录音系统。

不过要建立语言学习的学生群落，本人最喜欢的一款还是Voicethread。老师可以上传图片和录影， 然后组建班级群落，邀请学生来点评。学生可以打字写评语，也可以单纯录音评论，还可以录像评论。 在同一个班级群落的同学也能看见别的同学的评论。 学生还可以自己设置帐号，比如添加有趣的头像。这些特色都让学生觉得Voicethread生动有趣，也有了学习语言的集体气氛。

我最喜欢的一个功能是录影涂鸦，请看上图。上传了录影后，可以添加录像评论。点击摄像机的图标后，就可直接录影。同时界面上也会出现一直蜡笔，可以选不同颜色，圈点需要注意的地方。这个功能可以用来制作教学录影，也可以让学生点评图像里具体的细节。

免费的Voicethread只可以上传5个帖子。如果订一年79美金的会员，就可以上传无数帖子还可以添加50个学生的帐号。分享帖子可以直接复制黏贴链接，也可以通过电子邮件，非常方便。



How to Transfer PPT to Youtube Video 怎么把幻灯片做成youtube影片

My Weibo 101 Tutorial 我的怎么用微博小电影 

Actually it is really easy.  I believe many of us are masters of PowerPoint (PPT) making, adding cute visuals and intriguing animation.  PowerPoint can be made more animated if you turn it into a video.  The only thing you lose is the animations you put in your PPT file.

The easiest way?  If you have a Mac, simply click on Save as Movie.

To further customize your video, you can use MovieMaker on PC/Windows or iMovie on Mac.  The first step is to save the PPT as picture, under the file menu.  A folder will be set up under the same file name.  Each individual slide will be saved as a JPEG image in this folder.  You can import these images to MovieMaker and iMovie, record your lecture, add music, and any other visual/audio elements (subtitles, transitions, etc.).

I am a Mac person, so I use iMovie.  My next step is to share the video directly on Youtube.  When you click on Share and then click on Youtube, a window will come out for you to put descriptions, tags, how you want to share the video (across all the devices or otherwise), and who can view the video (private vs. public).

Now the PowerPoint is transferred to a Youtube video lesson and students can also revisit the lesson.

You can also use Apple program iShowU for real-time screen capture, which cost $60.00.  This program doesn't have security problems caused by Java script run by other programs for the same function.  Real-time screen capture is an extremely (I rarely use this word) when you give instructions on how to do things, step by step.  A cheaper way is to capture your screens frame by frame, use PhotoShop or PowerPower to add texts/symbols to these images if you want to, and then transfer these edited images into a tutorial video.

把幻灯片讲座变成生动的Youtube电影其实很简单。不过要告诉大家，变成电影后，放在幻灯片里的各种动画会被牺牲掉。

如果用苹果电脑，最简单的方法，就是直接把幻灯片另存为电影，此功能在文件菜单下。

如果你想进一步编辑电影，你可以用movie maker的软件，也可以用苹果机的imovie。首先把幻灯片另存为图片。一个同名的文件夹会自动生成，每张幻灯片被保存为单张图片。然后把这些图片放进电影编辑器，再添加其的视觉听觉效果，比如音乐，讲座录音等等。

我用苹果机。iMovie做完的电影可以直接分享到Youtube上。点击分享Youtube以后，一个窗口会弹出，可以添加影片介绍，标签，在什么平台上观看，以及谁有权限观看。这样幻灯片就变成了学生以后也可以看的教学录影。

你可以用苹果60美金的iShowU软件，实时抓拍屏幕。实时抓拍是做一步一步使用介绍的影片最好用的办法。iShowU比较安全，因为不用后台安全有问题的Java系统。如果想用更省钱的办法，就是自己手动（用screenshot在pc, 或者shift+commend+4在苹果）把每个屏幕拍下来（好像很多教怎么下载软件的图列）。用PhotoShop或者PowerPower编辑这些图片，按照上面的步骤再做成教学电影

中文流行歌曲 Chinese Songs

网络真是一个好东西，当然好东西要靠大家来维护。这是我在邻客音（linkedin)看到应该是叫陈君老师的帖子。整理了陈奕迅的歌曲《十年》（十年, Shi Nian, Ten Years by Chen Yixun (Eason Chan)）配有拼音繁简体歌词，英文注释。陈老师还整理了一些其他的中国民歌，比如茉莉花，以及其他流行歌曲。随便放一首在youtube上的音乐录影是件最简单不过的事情，可是没有悉心准备的歌词。多谢陈老师花了心思帮中文教师准备这些实用课件。另一位老师推荐的王力宏的《柴米油盐酱醋茶》，主题多好，各位老师们要自己整理一下歌词。

iPad之一：免费应用Moodboard做演讲 iPad 1: Easy Presentation by Moodboard Lite

最近孔子学院在LinkedIn的论坛上有人提问，iPad有什么适合教学的应用。iPad上的应用成千上万，设计常常都俏皮可爱，功能五花八门。可惜专为语言教学设计又用途广泛的应用确是屈指可数。

其实大量用做他用的应用可以方便地在语言课堂里使用。iPad的免费应用，Moodboard Lite版，就是其中之一。Moodboard的界面与做创意工作的人员用的平面设计板很像。拿服装设计据个例子，这个板上就可能钉着设计师想用颜色，布料，以及设计师的设计笔记。现在这个设计蓝图的板面就是iPad的荧幕。

我们可以在上面放从网路下载或者存在iPad里的图片，可以加文字，加箭头，加颜色，加胶带， 加图钉。这些编辑功能都罗列在屏幕底部，一目了然，不用开启不同的菜单。很像在PowerPoint时代以前的幻灯片时代，可以直接在透明的幻灯片上写写画画。所以用Moodboard这个应用做演讲稿，图文并茂，而且制作过程简单得多。

制作完毕后，你可能也猜到了。作品可以直接发送电子邮件，直接存在你的iTune文件夹，直接存在iPad的相册里，直接放到facebook上，直接放到推特上。

因为简单，所以做起来很快，学生在课堂内就可以很快完成演讲稿，然后即刻传送给老师。这才是真正

Recently on the LinkedIn Confucius Institute forum, someone asked about the iPad app that we can use in the classroom.  Countless cute looking app with all kinds of functions have been around ever since iPad was introduced to the market.  Unfortunately, there is a few specifically designed for language teaching and learning.

However, many apps designed for other purposes could be easily applied in language classrooms.  Moodboard is a good example.  Moodboard looks like the inspiration board used by designers or people working on creative jobs.  The iPad screen now represents the physical boards the designers use to pin their fabrics, color options, and notes.

You can put images you clipped from Internet or stored in your iPad, add text, add arrows to point at things, add color, add scotch tape, and add thumb tags.  All these different choices you would use to design your own inspiration board are arranged neatly in a singly line at the bottom of your screen so you don't have to open different menus.  You can just drag them and put them on your screen.  This is like what we do on those transparent slides (used before PowerPoint era), drawing and writing directly on those slides.

After the presentation is finished, you might already guess what could happen.  The presentation can be shared via email, stored on iPad directly, shared on facebook, or shared on twitter.

Since it is way much easier than PowerPoint, students will be able to finish the presentation in class and send it to the teacher right away.  Therefore, I would call this a true cloud application.

大家都知道的神奇视频 Everybody Knows Youtube

最近制作了一些youtube的小电影放在我的频道上，也在摸索怎么让youtube变得更加互动。

不少老师都喜欢在课堂里用youtube以及别的视频。视频有各种功能，最强大功能之一是调节课堂气氛，变换教学节奏，尤其适合善用视觉吸收信息的学生。最强大功能之二是提供大量免费信息。比如我就用过youtube上教做饺子的小片段，还有中国文字演化的动画。以前我还常用BBC纪录片《中国最大的餐馆》放在youtube上的片头介绍，来引出食物和中国吃文化这个话题。

Youtube以及别的视频网站上成千上万的音乐录影也是极好用的语言教学工具。因为录影时常有字幕，便于学生学习。比较年轻的学生总是对流行音乐很感兴趣，所以学一些流行歌曲可以调动学生学习的积极性。最好的一个例子是，S.H.E.的 《中国话》，同学们都百听不厌。这个录影融汇贯通，有中国传统（武术，童谣，绕口令），也有街舞饶舌。北京奥运的主题曲也是很多同学特别喜欢的一首歌，录影带做得特别精心，展示中华不同风俗地域文华，还有拼音字幕。不少音乐录影还可以用来学习音乐这个话题，研究探讨音乐的流派，给学生一个可以感应的语境来学习乐器以及乐队，音乐家，音乐人，乐师，乐手这样的生词。周杰伦的《非常大的大提琴》就是一个例子，既可以介绍大提琴这个乐器，也可以说说周杰伦扮演不同的与音乐有关的角色（音乐人，歌手，等等）。

因为视频有声有色还有字幕，所以可以用来帮助学生练习听力口语以及测试学生的听说读写能力。一个很好的活动就是听看视频，填空。我常常让学生听歌，给学生缺词的歌词，让学生补全歌词。根据视频的内容，学生还能做各种后续活动， 比如续写故事。我用过一个十二生肖故事的动画，只有音乐和画面。看完动画后，学生自己编写十二生肖的故事再表演。

最近我开始把上课用的幻灯片做成影片放在youtube上。我的学生常做的一个功课就是看影片，根据影片提出的要求（有时是我录的音有时字幕）在youtube上留言。我可以在我的聪明手机上随时看到学生是否做功课做得怎么样（gmail直接发送消息显示留言人的姓名与留言内容）。我可以及时给学生点评。更重要的是学生可以看到自己同辈们的水平，同学的创作比起老师的评语更能鼓励学生们做出高质量的功课。 有些老师会担心网路安全问题。我觉得这是一个很好的机会让学生学习根据不同的虚拟场合选择合适的身份语言（比如交作业的时候当然不可以叫自己白雪公主）。

如果大家有兴趣，下一篇我可以说说怎么把幻灯片做成有声有色的小电影。

Recently I set up my Youtube channel (Minhua Gu) and posted a few videos.  I am also figuring out how to use Youtube and other other online video resources to enhance interaction in our language class.

A lot of educators like to use Youtube and other online videos.  One obvious reason is that it helps change the class pace.  These websites also provide free information, and a lot of it.  Visual learners can easily retrieve information from these dynamic visual presentations.  I used a Youtube video to show how to make dumplings.  I am also fond of the animation so delicately made to introduce the evolution of Chinese characters by Shanghai Animation Studio in the 70s, much more interesting and intriguing than any explanation I have given about this topic in person.  Well, you can find it on Youtube.  One of my favorite is the trailer of BBC's documentary, The Biggest Chinese Restaurant.  I often use it to set the stage for the topic on food, Chinese cuisine, and a culture closely related to food.

Music videos on the Internet is another powerful tool for language teachers as well as language learners.  Many young students love music.  Students learn to sing the songs in another language, which is pretty cool and motivates them to further their study of the language.  A ton of music videos have subtitles and offer not only interesting music but also culture-relevant content.  My favorites are S.H.E's "Chinese Language", blending Chinese traditions with rapping and break dancing, and the Beijing Olympic theme song, showing different places in Beijing plus different cultural practice.  One of my students loved the theme song so much that he found a version with pinyin and Chinese characters on his own.  These music videos also give a relatable context for students to discuss about anything related to music. We can talk about music genre, instrument, and various roles such as musicians and music bands.  Jay Chou's "An Especially Big Cello" is a good example to introduce the instrument, cello, and the roles Jay Chou plays in the music business, singer, song writer, musician, and etc.

Online videos have audio, visual, and subtitles, excellent for students to practice their listening comprehension and other language skills.  The videos are also great tools to conduct assessment.  One activity I like to have students do is to fill the blanks to complete lyrics when they watch music videos.  Follow-up activities based on the video content can increase students' engagement.  Videos with only visual and audio actually give student a platform to create their own language production.  One of the Youtube posts I love most is the animation for twelve Chinese zodiac animals, telling the story without words but animated Chinese characters for these animals, brilliantly made.  My students wrote their own story about where Chinese zodiac animals were from and performed the story after watching this animation.

I started making my own Youtube posts from my PowerPoint in-class lectures.  I use them as review materials for students and students post Youtube comments according to what the video requires as their assignments.  I can see the post content and the author's name instantly on my smart phone and give instant feedback if necessary (and know who didn't do their homework).  Most importantly, students can view each other's comments and see the quality of their own work, in comparison to their peers'.  I think this "peer pressure" works better than my feedback, although the teacher's feedback is important as well.  I try to build a contingent online component for our language learning community using my Youtube channel.  Some have concerns for security and privacy issues.  I believe it is a good practice for students to get used to modifying their behavior based on the virtue environment (for example, when you submit homework, you don't call yourself Snow White).

I will post how to transfer a PPT to a short video next time.  Peace.