Dear all, my experience at the TESOL conference in New York has been equally exciting and productive. I have learned how to use a couple of online tools and I think any ESL/EFL instructor could use them to engage language learners in creative mini projects. I would like to share these with you:

1. Dvolver: http://www.dvolver.com/live/home.htmlallows teachers and learners to create and direct their own mini-movies. There are a few easy steps to follow - you can choose your characters, scenes and backgrounds, add text and music and your movie is ready! You can see the one I created for my American Culture students below

2. Online Comics Generator: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Choose as many characters as you want, give them a "mood", add a thought or a talk balloon and your comics is ready for printing and using in class (great with elementary students).

3. Screen-o-Matic: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/Need to create a tutorial for your students? Do you want your students to create online projects where they would use their own voice? Try this tool - it's easy and it's free!

Welcome to our Food for Thought iEARN Project

Welcome to our Food for Thought Project!
My dear EFl students! Welcome to our Food for Thought Online Project ! We will be using this blog as our common interactive space to post our best pictures, essays, recipies, videos and power point presentations. Your first task for this week will be:
1) Post an introductory message with the following information included:
- your name
- where you are from
- what your favourite food is
- why you would like to participate in this project
- any interesting hobbies or special talents

We will join many other students from around teh world to study about food as part of the iEARN community - I will register you as iEARN participants, so that you can access the Project Webpage and tell us more:- how many countries participate in this project?- what kind of recipies do they publish online?- can you find an unusual recipe posted by a participant from a different country?Go to the Forum and explore it and be ready to talk about your findings in class!
All the best - see you online,Olga Ahramenco

Moldova in the Next Vista for Learning Video Online Library

Last semester my students and I worked on the iEARN / Next Vista for Learning Video Introduction to Communities Project - which aims to create an online library of free videos for learners everywhere - to help them find resources to learn just about anything, meet people who make a difference in their communities, and even discover new parts of the world. We are working on a series of slideshows and short videos which aim to introduce our country Moldova to the world. Have a look at my students' work and tell us what you think!I believe this is a great idea for teachers who want to involve their students in online collaborative projects involving image, slideshows and videos as means of communication. More info on the project here: http://dvmuncaesl.wetpaint.com/page/Video+Introductions+to+Communities

EFL FLEX in Moldova

This summer ACCELS Moldova in collaboration with ALC (American Councils), where I am currently working as an EFL instructor, have organised a summer immersion program for the FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange Program) finalists from all over the former Soviet republics, who came to Moldova to improve their English, study about US culture and get ready to face an academic year in the States. This is a short video we put together with the activities we enjoyed the most: the first part is just a slide show of pictures and comments, the second represents a series of short videos with the FLEX students sharing their experience in Moldova. A couple of students have visual and hearing impairments. These interviews were taken during our last EFL Conversation class, when the students talked about what they liked doing during these 5 weeks and is they are ready to leave for US.

Check on our Voicethreads!

My students and I have explored Voicethread - and created a couple of presentations on different topics you might find interesting and fun to watch! For teachers: I have also uploaded a lesson plan you can find on my TeacherWeb page ("Lesson Plans" section).
Check on the following links if you want to find out more about:

1. Beyonce and her career as a singer and actress: http://voicethread.com/#q.b106050 and http://voicethread.com/#q.b106194 (or type in "Beyonce" in the Browse section of Voicethread);
2. My experience in NY by Gabi Lu http://voicethread.com/share/103345/

3. Advantages of Travelling http://voicethread.com/#u75245.b89426

4. Past Perfect -http://voicethread.com/#q.b90651 and http://voicethread.com/share/89461/
5. Modal Verbs: http://voicethread.com/#u64820.b89478.i455697

6. Niagara Falls: http://voicethread.com/#q.b105995 and http://voicethread.com/share/106041/

7. Rodeo Superstitions https://webmail.olemiss.edu/cgi-bin/webmail.cgi?cmd=url&xdata=~2-dc582f0887a4d72d3a1cc428f64397b3f88ca4f4e19dd9c7dd00&url=http!3A!2F!2Fvoicethread.com!2Fshare!2F106194!2F
8. The sttue of Liberty http://voicethread.com/#q.b105979

9. Yosemite National Park http://voicethread.com/share/106629/

Don't forget to create an account or sign in first to watch them.

What is a "Tornado" ?

What you need to know about tornados:

1. Scientists don't know exactly how tornadoes form, but that they usually occur in the United States when cool dry air from the north mixes with warm moist air from the south.

Find out by yourselves:

- What is a twist? - What is a tornado alley?

2. Watch the following National Geographic Videos. What did you notice about tornadoes?

3. Tornados are found most frequently east of the Rocky Mountains during the spring and summer months. Find out how tornados form here.
4. In an average year, 800 tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in 80 deaths and over 1,500 injuries.
5. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of 250 mph or more. Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long. Once a tornado in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, carried a motel sign 30 miles and dropped it in Arkansas!

Having fun with Cartoons!