BP_FlashCS4_Post3

Okay, I think I was a little over my head yesterday with wanting to add sounds in movies by today.  Flash CS4 has so many things to learn and I've learned that I need to dedicate lots of hours of practice!  I've been trying to create a shape tween and I still can't get it right.  Even more, I didn't buy the upgraded version in Lynda, thus I can't use the examples it has made for you to use.  Lastly, I'm amazed with all the things you can do in Flash, and I will continue with the tutorials on Lynda to learn more.

Me trying to create a shape tween.

BP13_Flash CS4_post2

Has I continue my journey through Flash CS4, I'm liking all the amazing things you can do with it. My Lynda.com trainer provides easy to follow videos, I just wish it could be a little less time consuming. Today I worked on importing sounds and movie clips; which is great, but I really want to see how you can edit a movie and add sounds to a movie by using all the great features.  Also, I was impressed by the sound quality Flash gives your sounds. Hopefully I'm able to include sounds into a movie by the next post.

This is my first movie import.  I'm so proud!

BP12_Flash CS4_post1

Flash CS4 is a software that I've always come across and have had the curiosity of trying it out.  However, the two times that I tried exploring the program I found myself overwhelmed and completely lost. Since I read that we are going to using Flash for month 6, I figured I should get started because it looks like a time consuming program.

I went to Lynda.com and began taking the 'getting started with Flash CS4' courses.  I've completed Chapters 1 and 2. In chapter 1, I learned about different file types, Flash interface, and workspaces. In chapter 2, I learned how to use drawing tools and symbols.

I started with circles & Pac mans slowly emerged.

I took my drawing & converted it into a symbol.

BP11_Forvo_OMM

In the commercial below you will see how useful Forvo is for a language classroom and for those who want to pronounce correctly in almost any language.

BP10_comment to Elizabeth Lundstrum's blog

You have to check out this amazing Web 2.0 tool Elizabeth found called Shidonni. Follow my comment to Elizabeth Lundstrum's Web 2.0 tool.

BP9_Comment to Gregg's blog

Check out my comment to Gregg's newest discovery called Edmodo.

BP8_Forvo

Ever had problems pronouncing a word or simply didn't know how to pronounce a word?  Don't worry because Fervo has just solved all your pronouncing problems!

Fervo is a simple Web 2.0 tool and the perfect tool to use in all my classes.  It's not only very beneficial for all language learners, but also for native speakers of any language who want to pronounce correctly.  What makes Fervo different from other translators is that people can add words, pronounce, or just listen and learn.  It includes accents from all over the world and when you click on a word to listen to, it tells you the country the person is from.  This powerful tool has recorded words from native speakers in over 200 languages, over 700,000 words, and continues to grow!  There is more to this tool that makes it great and user friendly. 

Fervo's home page is well structured and has five main tabs: home, languages, categories, pronounce, and users.  In the home page you can see the sites activity. For example, you see the number of speakers, words pronounced, and pending pronunciation; as well as, categories, and your own personal activity once you become a member.  In the language tab you can see all the languages with the number of words pronounced and recent words pronounced beside each language. Further, each language has a code (en for English) and the activity that is happening in each language. The categories tab shows you all the categories. The pronounce tab shows you all the words that need to be pronounced in your language(s); which you can help by pronouncing and you can also can add words to your language. Finally, the users tab shows you all the users and the number of words they have pronounce.

Other perks about this site is that it's safe, it has an iphone app, you can vote on the best pronunciation, and you can receive messages from other users within the site.  You can set up your privacy and also receive notifications from Fervo to your email. Overall, I think this Web 2.0 will be very useful to those who want to perfect their pronunciation or help others.

BP7_OMM_Twiducate

This is first promotional ETC one minute message on Twiducate. Watch it and find out why it's an amazing Web 2.0 tool to use in your class to engage your students and increase communication with parents. Enjoy!

BP6_comment to Pamela

Follow this link to my comment on Pamela's blog.

BP5_Comment to Emil

Follow this link to my comment on Emil's blog.

BP4_Twiducate

I have found Twiducate to be the perfect Web 2.0 tool to use for my AR project because it's a social network for schools. With this tool I hope to be able to motivate and increase my students English language fluency outside the classroom in a safe virtual environment.

Who are the developers of Twiducate? Teachers! Therefore, this social network gives you  all the benefits of a social network like Twitter by allowing you to include discussions, pictures, and links, but it also allows teachers to post deadlines, homework, and surveys. 

What are the benefits of Twiducate?  One of the best features I have found is that it helps facilitate the management of all your classes, as well as, making it user friendly for both teachers and students. For example, teachers are able to add multiple classes in their page, navigate between classes, and add all their students names under the corresponding class. The system automatically generates each students' password or the teacher can create it.  Therefore, each student is able to login to their classroom making it safe to use and easy to manage by the teacher.  Although this is a great Web 2.0 tool there are a couple of downfalls.

First of all, it's important to keep in mind that Twiducate is social network for schools; therefore, it is limited in includes features that we are used to seeing in social networks. For example you can't add music or videos directly into your post, instead you would have to add it as a bookmark.  You also can't add pictures from your personal file, you can only add pictures from a url link. As for your profile picture, you can only choose from the avatar pictures that the site provides. Further, Twiducate is a new Web 2.0 tool and is still being developed to provide teachers and students with all the necessary features.

Overall, Twiducate is a great educational social network tool that you can use in schools unlike other social websites that are blocked by firewalls and administrators.  Despite the downfalls, it serves the purpose of collaborating into with your students outside the classroom and gives teachers control and easy management of their classrooms.  I'm already using it to share information with my critical friends and I will definitely use it for my AR project.

BP3_youtube or Ted?

The web 2.0 I'm choosing to research this month is Youtube or TED.  I recently signed up for a Youtube account to share some of my students movie projects.  I think it's an amazing web 2.0 tool and I want to continue using it for educational proposes. I also love listening to TED, I have been using it since March 2010 for my classes and now for EMDT. I have recently signed up to TED and have found it to be very useful for my students because they can listen and read a TED speech as many times as they want.  Furthermore, it's easy for me to create activities from each speech using the four language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. I also thought it would be a great idea to have them translate some of the TED speeches since it allows volunteers to translate a script in any language.  Overall, both are a great educational tool, but I'm still deciding.

http://www.youtube.com/user/nereydavalle1

http://www.ted.com/

BP2_igoogle Screen Shots

I have been having igoogle has my home page for awhile now; however, I never really paid attention to the tabs option or the gadgets you can add.  I'm loving it more and more, and am an even bigger fan of igoogle! 

igoogle Home page. 

                                      

FSO tab

AR/CBL tab

ETC tab

BP1_Google Reader

ePals
I'm following this site in my Google Reader because it's a site designed to connect classrooms or people who want to practice a different language through projects.  ePals is connecting classes all around the world and makes learning a different language with other native speakers around the world more exciting.  This upcoming school year I will be using this program with my students, so I will either create a project or collaborate in one.

TED
I'm following this site because it's full of amazing talks by remarkable people and I have used this site many times for my ESL classes.  I like how many presentations are translated in many languages and have an interactive transcript, which is useful for my students reading and listening comprehension, and conversation. 

Apple Learning Interchange
I'm following this great Apple site for educators.  Here they have exchanged lesson plans and ideas using the Mac software.  There are lessons plans for all grade levels and subjects. It's amazing what people have done in their classes with a Mac and itouch/ipod.