An essential digital toolbox for teachers – by Vicky Saumell

Some initial questions that we have to ask ourselves when considering using digital technology tools in the
classroom are:

- What is a set of useful tasks for the primary classroom?

- What can technology allow you to do and how?

By focusing on our educational aims we can start thinking about the technological affordances and constraints.

A list of useful tasks could be:

- Manipulating material
- Working with images
- Working with words
- Working with speech

The same list of tasks, now expressed through a technological lens would be:

- Digitalizing materials
- Working with digital images
- Working with words
- Recording learners’ speech
- Creating videos

1. Digitalizing material

Whether it’s an interesting image or text from a book, a drawing or piece of work done by the learners on
paper, or the learners’ or teacher’s work on the board, it can easily be digitalized by taking a picture of it.
Once it has been digitalized, it can be shared, projected, etc.

2. Working with images

a) Some ideas for using Skitch
 Taking a picture from your course book or a drawing made by learners and projecting it to use as
a prompt for a class activity
 Adding text to uploaded images: labelling vocabulary, describing pictures
 Jumbling words and having learners match words with pictures

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 b) Some ideas for using PicCollage
 Uploading pics and having students rearrange them in a logical way
 Uploading pics related to a lexical set and creating a picture dictionary
 These collages can also be printed as posters to decorate the classroom or shared online with
learners and their families.

3. Working with words

a) Some ideas for using Wordle

Wordle is a free web-based service that allows you to create word-art posters from a given text or a list of words.
Wordle analyses the words’ frequency and displays the words in different sizes according to their frequency
within the text or list.

 Displaying lexical sets from a vocabulary list

 Displaying collocations
 Displaying a text’s main ideas

The word-art posters can then be exploited in a variety of ways:

 as a prompt for oral/written work

 to classify vocabulary into categories
 to show a text main’s ideas
 to recognize words that collocate

b) Wordsalad

It’s a similar app, but one that does not analyze word frequency.

4. Recording learners’ speech

Some of the benefits of using voice recording tools are:

- To assign oral homework

- To assess oral work at home
- To add oral artefacts to e-portfolios
- It encourages shy learners to practice their speaking in a safe environment

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Some online tools are:

 Vacaroo – allows you to record your voice and then send it by email, download it, post or share it.
 Tellagami – it allows you to create an avatar and then record your voice to make it speak
 Fotobabble – it allows you to upload an image and then record a message to go with it.

Some ideas for using recording tools are:

 having learners record themselves reading aloud or saying chants/ tongue twisters
 having learners create an avatar and record their personal introductions/ what they would say for a
specific situation
 having learners upload a picture and describe it or give their opinion.

5. Creating videos

A) Some ideas for using MailVU (it allows you to record a short video and send it directly by email)
 Introducing their families by recording them at home
 Showing their bedroom and what is in it
 Showing their clothes and describing them
 Recording themselves doing a role-play or interview

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