Using digital tools to

bring the outside world

into the language
classroom
 Handout: What kind of apps?

Handout: What kind of apps?

Using digital tools to bring the outside world into the language classroom 3
 Handout: City guide apps

Handout: City guide apps

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY 1: PLAN A TOUR
1. With your partner, plan a day trip in Istanbul. Decide:
 what attractions to see
 what tour to go on
 where to stay
 where to eat out.

2. Present your day trip to another pair. Decide whose day out is better.

PARTICIPANTS’ ACTIVITY 1
How would learners benefit from doing this activity?

What are the language areas and skills that they could practise?

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY 2: EXPLOITING REVIEWS

1. Find a tour you’d like to go on.
2. Read at least six reviews and note down what’s good/bad about it and the language used.
Will you go on the tour?
3. Report to a partner.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY 3: THE EFFECTS OF TOURISM

1. Read about a historic site. What are its key features?
2. Discuss how you think tourism affects that site positively and negatively.
3. How can the negative effects be limited?

Using digital tools to bring the outside world into the language classroom 4
 Handout: Shopping sites and apps

Handout: Shopping sites and apps

Classroom ideas

 Give learners a profile of a person and a budget, and tell them to find a gift for this person.
 Give learners a product to research, so they can become a salesperson for that product. They
then try to sell it to as many other learners in the class as they can in five minutes, for example.
 Learners think of two or three questions they’d like to know about a product before they buy it.
They then go to the questions and answers section of the website to see if their question has
already been answered, and decide whether to buy it or not.

Using digital tools to bring the outside world into the language classroom 5
 Handout: Text stories

Handout: Text stories

Mum, did you leave the door open this

morning?

No, why? Is it open?

Yes and I can hear someone inside.

Don’t go in…

Classroom ideas

 Read and predict

 the next line
 what’s going to happen next.
 Discuss what you’d do.
 Infer emotions and justify them.
 Act it out.
 Write your own stories.

Using digital tools to bring the outside world into the language classroom 6
 Handout: Art and art history apps

Handout: Art and art history apps

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY 4: PREDICTING
1. Access an app like DailyArt, which shows a piece of art each day with a description of it.
2. Predict information about the work of art. You can predict:
 What? (What is it? What kind of artwork is it? etc.)
 Who? (Who is the artist? Who is the artwork of?)
 When? (When was it made? What time period is it showing?)
 Where? (Where does the image represent?)
3. After predicting, read the description to check your predictions.
4. Finally, pick out five words or phrases that you think might be useful when using English.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY 5: STORYTELLING

1. Access an app like DailyArt, which shows a piece of art each day with a description of it.
2. Make up the story behind the painting.
3. Tell your story to a partner.
4. Read and check who’s the closest.
5. Report similarities and differences between your stories.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY 6: TAKE A GUIDED TOUR

1. Access a tour guide app of a museum or art gallery.
2. Choose an item individually.
3. Listen to the information about the item.
4. Describe the item to your partner without saying what the item is.
5. Your partner then searches for the item using the app.

Using digital tools to bring the outside world into the language classroom 7
 Handout: Science for kids

Handout: Science for kids

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY 7: EXPERIMENTS
1. Learn key words from the experiment by using images.
2. Watch or complete an experiment on your device.
3. Using screenshots of the experiment, put the pictures in order.
4. Label the pictures with verbs or sentences.
5. Explain the experiment to another learner.
6. Write up the experiment.

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 Handout: Virtual reality

Handout: Virtual reality

Classroom ideas: Going on a field trip

Before and during the trip

 Inquiry-based approach: decide what you want to find out

 Predict and guess what you’ll see or hear (objects, colours, animals, or more complex information
 Find five things, e.g.
 objects
 similarities (e.g. between your life and that shown)
 differences (e.g. between your street and the street shown)

After the trip

 Compare experiences (with real-life experiences or two different VR trips)

 Have a discussion or debate (about topics or issues raised)
 Language work
 work out the meaning of new words
 match new words to synonyms
 label items seen in the field trip

Using digital tools to bring the outside world into the language classroom 9
 Handout: Learner projects

Handout: Learner projects

Classroom ideas

Carrying out research projects:

1. Choose a topic.
2. Decide what you want to know.
3. Choose a way of finding out.
4. Conduct your research.
5. Report back.

Using digital tools to bring the outside world into the language classroom 10
 Handout: Useful links

Handout: Useful links

City guide apps

 Lonely Planet app: lonelyplanet.com/guides

 Telegraph Travel Guides app: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/Telegraph-Travel-Guides-
app/
 Ulmon app: http://www.ulmon.com/#get-the-app

Text story apps

 Hooked app: hooked.co

 Tap app: taptaptap.co

Art and art history apps and sites

 DailyArt app: getdailyart.com

 Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) audio: moma.org/audio

Science apps and sites

 Citizen Science app: ceh.ac.uk/citizen-science-apps

 Science Bob: sciencebob.com
 Science Tricks & Experiments In Science College: androidappsgame.net/science-tricks-
experiments-in-science-college

Virtual reality apps and sites

 Cambridge English 360: cambridgeenglish.org/beta/360

 Discovery VR app: discoveryvr.com
 Google Earth 3D app: google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/earth
 Google Expeditions app: edu.google.com/expeditions/#about
 YouTube Virtual Reality channel: youtube.com/channel/UCzuqhhs6NWbgTzMuM09WKDQ
 YouTube 360° channel: youtube.com/channel/UCtaURINZ7ycXKBmRw9IFDzQ

MOOC sites

 Coursera: coursera.org
 FutureLearn: futurelearn.com

Learner projects sites and apps

 Background reading: Graddol, D (2013). Profiling English in China: Cambridge English Language
Assessment. cambridgeenglish.org/images/151564-profiling-english-in-china-dg.pdf
 Book Creator tool: bookcreator.com
Using digital tools to bring the outside world into the language classroom 11
 Handout: Useful links

 Canva graphic design tool: canva.com

 Doceri screencapture tool: doceri.com
 Evernote digital notebook app: evernote.com
 Moodle virtual classroom: moodle.org
 Padlet online noticeboard app: en-gb.padlet.com
 Penzu journal app: penzu.com
 Snagit screencapture tool: discover.techsmith.com/snagit-brand-desktop
 Wikispaces social writing platform: wikispaces.com

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