PADLET

It is a digital dashboard where you can add images, videos, texts that you want or imagine. You can customize it to your liking and plan and schedule your clipboard. You can make notes, videos, images and many virtual materials you want to keep on the Padlet.

You can also work in a common area with your students or with people you tutor. You can share the clipboard you create and create a working environment with the people you want.

What purpose can you use Padlet?

-Provide a common workspace with your students.

-Discussion or brainstorming.

-Keeping track of your private tutoring students.

-Add multimedia to the digital clipboard you create.

Which Platform Works?

The application runs smoothly on web and iOS platforms.

Padlet is a digital board application that you can fill an empty wall with the content you want.

 This is my example 

AUGMENTED REALITY

Augmented reality is the result of using technology to superimpose information — sounds, images, and text — on the world we see. Picture the "Minority Report" or "Iron Man" style of interactivity.

Augmented reality is often presented as a kind of futuristic technology, but a form of it has been around for years. For example, the heads-up displays in many fighter aircraft as far back as the 1990s would show information about the attitude, direction, and speed of the plane, and only a few years later they could show which objects in the field of view were targets.

Google rolled out Google Glass in 2013, moving augmented reality to a more wearable interface; in this case, glasses. It displays on the user's lens screen via a small projector and responds to voice commands, overlaying images, videos and sounds onto the screen. Google pulled Google Glass at the end of December 2015.

As it happens, phones and tablets are the way augmented reality gets into most people's lives. Vito Technology's Star Walk app, for instance, allows a user to point the camera in their tablet or phone at the sky and see the names of stars and planets superimposed on the image. Another app called Layar uses the smartphone's GPS and its camera to collect information about the user's surroundings. It then displays information about nearby restaurants, stores and points of interest.

Some apps for tablets and phones work with other objects as well. Disney Research developed an AR coloring book, in which you color in a character in a conventional (though app-compatible) book and launch the app on the device. The app accesses the camera and uses it to detect which character you are coloring, and uses software to re-create the character in 3D character on the screen.

One of the most popular ways AR has infiltrated everyday life is through mobile games. In 2016, the AR game "Pokémon Go" became a sensation worldwide, with over 100 million estimated users at its peak, according to CNET. It ended up making more than $2 billion and counting, according to Forbes. The game allowed users to see Pokémon characters bouncing around in their own town. The goal was to capture these pocket monsters, then use them to battle others, locally, in AR gyms.

VIRTUAL REALITY

-Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment.

-Virtual Reality’s most immediately-recognizable component is the head-mounted display (HMD). Human beings are visual creatures, and display technology is often the single biggest difference between immersive Virtual Reality systems and traditional user interfaces.

-Major players in Virtual Reality includes HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR (PSVR).

Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world. The only limits to near-real VR experiences are the availability of content and cheap computing power.

FLIPGRID

 Flipgrid is a video discussion and feedback platform that is actively used by millions of Phd students, educators, students and families in more than 180 countries. With Flipgrid, students share, discuss, and share ideas with videos. Each student has a different voice with an idea. Listening to them, giving them feedback is very important. With Flipgrid, students record short, authentic videos and can respond to each other's videos. Educators can watch videos, give instant feedback to students, and even make ratings through videos.

PIXTON

Pixton is one of the best ways to create comics. You can create a comic book with different screen designs. You can also join different comic groups and meet new people, and the photos are reviewed.

                               

With Pixton

-Prepare book report or school projects in comics style

-Describe a statement or thoughts in a concise way

-Tell a story with SofaScore and pictures

-Describes subtle emotions with customizable characters

-Think comics or cartoons with humor

-Draw a film script

Key Features

-Feature library with more than 2,000 objects

-Background pre-set and grouped by themes

-Designable text, captions and speech bubbles

-Variable panel flexibility and flexible layouts

Who Can Use Pixton?

-Students and teachers for school projects

-Communication experts for visual projects

-Young people and adults looking for a new way to express themselves

-Promising web humor writers

I made my avatar in Pixton ; 

This is me :) 

ANIMATRON

Animatron is a video and animation software development company that enables businesses and individuals to create high-quality visual content with its online video making tools.

PREZI

Prezi is a new generation of web-based presentation preparation site that is animated and visually enriched cloud. The easy-to-use interface allows you to quickly create impressive slideshows that make a difference to your personal or professional needs. With Prezi, you can create and share more remarkable and fun presentations. You can access and use your presentations from anywhere on the internet by storing your presentations on their website.

Click here to see my example

CANVA

Canva is a simplified graphic-design tool website, founded in 2012. It uses a drag-and-drop format and provides access to photographs, vector images, graphics, and fonts. It is used by non-designers as well as professionals. The tools can be used for both web and print media design and graphics.

Canva has a myriad of uses for the classroom, and here are some ways that Canva can enhance the visual aspect of your curriculum:

Posters

Newsletters

Labels

Certificates

Covers

Charts & Graphs

Infographics

Magazines & Portfolios

Click here to see my example

THE DIRECT METHOD

The direct method of teaching, which is sometimes called the natural method, and is often (but not exclusively) used in teaching foreign languages, refrains from using the learners' native language and uses only the target language. The direct method in teaching a language is directly establishing an immediate and audiovisual association between experience and expression, words and phrases, idioms and meanings, rules and performances through the teachers' body and mental skills, without any help of the learners' mother tongue.

The direct method of teaching languages aims to build a direct way into the world of the target language making a relation between experience and language, word and idea, thought and expression rule and performance.

This method intends for students to learn how to communicate in the target language

This method is based on the assumption that the learner should experience the new language in the same way as he/she experienced his/her mother tongue without considering the existence of his/her mother tongue.

My friends and I recorded a video about the direct method, you can watch it here ;

VOKI

Voki is a very convenient app, especially for foreign language lessons. Voki is an application that allows you to create characters online and allow them to speak the text you type. Yes, The characters you create with Voki have the ability to speak texts written in many languages. In addition to the difference between men and women in every language, it is also possible to voice with different accents of the language.  With these features, Voki is a very entertaining tool for our classes.

Click here to see my example

STORYBIRD

Storybird is a free book creation site. Although the interface is in English, it is very easy to use and is a useful educational tool especially for language teachers such as Turkish, English and German. Students can read the created books; write their own books, stories, and poems. It can be enjoyful for students. If there is a projection or smartboard in the classroom, you can easily find a book from the site and read it in class. However, an account is required to create a book. One of the good things is that the teacher can open an account, create a class and invite students with a class code. Parents can even be included in the work if they wish. 

Click here to see my example