BUBBL-R

What is the link?
http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/

Bubblr is an online tool that allows people to add captions or create comic strips using photographs. One can either make use of the available photos on the website’s archive - this can be done by typing in a keyword or a user - or by uploading photos from an existing flickr account (www.flickr.com). Ultimately, Bubblr allows the user to get creative with their photographs, share their finish project with friends, or embed it on their blogs.



Below is a step by step video from YouTube on how to use Bubblr.



How to integrate Bubblr into the classroom?

Bubblr can be integrated in a TESOL classroom in various ways.

• An instructor can assign the class a theme/keyword and create a comic strip using Bubblr. Once the students have saved their assignment and edited their writing, the instructor can then assign the students to present their finish comic strips in class. This method allows learners to work on their writing skills as well as communication skills.
• Teachers can also assign students to create a story line using photographs from their travels or hometown. Afterwards, the students can work in pairs and correct each other sentences or point out any grammatical errors found. Again, as a way to develop speech and communication skills, have the students present their photographs in class and allow them to make comments about the presentation.
• Bubblr can be use for character education by assigning the students to look photographs with people. The students will then have to come up with phrases, thoughts, or dialogues that describe the photograph. Below is an example: 

To sum up, Bubblr thoroughly utilizes the saying “a picture says a thousand words”.  Thus, for the reason that there are endless ways to create stories, captions, and dialogues using photographs, this website can be quite beneficial to language learners.

Advantages:

In my opinion, because there are countless of ways to describe a photograph, therefore, I believe Bubblr to be a very useful website for language learners. It allows students to create storylines through photographs, it helps them develop their speech and communication skills, it can be an interactive task, and it provides a lot of output from the students. With language learning comprehensible output, is just as essential as comprehensible input. In addition, since pictures and images are involved, this activity is a stimulating way to practice and learn a second or foreign language for beginner language learners.  Lastly, this website promotes independent work since the students are using their own description and observation from photographs. 

Disadvantages:

The only problem I found with Bubblr is that only a limited amount of words can be typed in the caption/dialogue box and it’s mainly catered to beginner language learners. If the caption box wasn't so limiting with words or if descriptions can be typed at the bottom of the photograph, then intermediate language learners can also use this site as a tool to improve their second or foreign language.

BOMBAY TV

What is the Link?
http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/index.php?lang=uk

One of the more fun sites we discovered is Bombay TV. This website is a fun and creative way for students to learn English. Basically, users must create their own captions/subtitles for clips from a collection of Indian movies. With this website students can develop their communicative skills by simply observing the movie clips and applying their understanding of it.

Depending on the clip, the users will have 3-5 subtitles to work with. Here’s an example.

Once a Bollywood Movie is Complete, you can email it to friends, embed it in a blog, or post it as a URL on a website. Below is my own Bollywood Movie.



How to integrate Bombay TV into the classroom?

First, the instructor can have the students pretend they’re working for a film production company and they need to write English subtitles for an Indian film. The students will then have to guess what they think the characters are really saying and type it on the provided subtitles. However, to utilize this site in a more creative way, instead of having students guess what the characters are saying, teachers can give the students a scenario and come with dialogues for it.  Teachers can also use this website as an advertising assignment. Using the movie clips, students can be assigned to come up with catchy dialogues or captions to advertise a product or a company.  Furthermore, to make this activity more interactive, the students can present their dialogues by dubbing it into the movie clips. 

Advantages:

To me, Bombay TV is a website that students can easily gravitate to. First of all, it’s amusing, interactive, and entertaining. It gives students the chance to be carefree and comical in a classroom setting. Moreover, instead of turning in a written work, students actually get to show a movie clip for their assignment; thus creating a fun learning environment for language learners.

Disadvantages:

Because only a limited amount of words can be typed in the "subtitle" box, this Bombay TV is only catered to the beginners level.  In order for this website to cater to more advanced language learners, I believe it needs more subtitles or longer movie clips.  Furthermore, culturally, this website is only entertaining if the language learner doesn't understand the language spoken (Hindi) in the clips.

LISTEN & WRITE

What is the Link?

http://www.listen-and-write.com/

Listen and Write is an online language learning resource, which focuses on the learner’s listening, writing, and reading skills. The main objective is for learners to carefully listen to the audio clips and type dictated words. Learners can then evaluate and track their progress by creating an account. Furthermore, this site caters to various levels and the audio clips used are about current events, thus also providing interest to the learner. 

How to integrate Listen and Write into the classroom?

Since Listen and Write focuses on students writing, reading and writing skills, this site can provide teachers a creative range of language learning activities. For examples:

•  After a student has finished listening to the audio clips, he or she can write their own interpretation of the dictated article.
  
• Students can repeat or read out loud their typed text so that there’s also a focus on pronunciation.
  
• Teachers can ask the student to dissect their sentences by asking them to identify the parts of speech

Advantages:

One of the great advantages of this website is that it is for free. While similar sites require members to pay, Listen and Write is easily accessible and freely available to language learners. Also, since one of the main objectives of this site is listening, it provides a sense of language immersion to the learner. It allows students to pay close attention to how certain words are pronounced and if they don’t understand it, the word or sentences can be repeated over and over again until they fully understand the article. Most importantly, Listen and Write is autonomous, thus once a student is registered, he or she can easily track their progress and further develop their skills.

Disadvantages:

Due to the fact that Listen and Write works somewhat similar to the Audio-lingual Method, I believe that students can easily get bored with it. In addition, depending on the level, the audio clips are difficult to understand and replaying the clips can eventually become annoying as well as mind-numbing. There’s also the factor of whether or not learners truly understand what they are hearing or are they just simply typing down words; there’s not focus on improving the learner’s communication skills. Lastly, any type of dictation can only hold someone’s interest for a limited amount of time.