Mailvu - do things differently

 

So what is Mailvu???

Generally Mailvu is a tool that allow us to record video messages for us to share with our family, friends or else anyone else that we wish through email. Plus you can easily create and send the video with just a couple of simple steps without having any complicated stuff to worry about. How cool is that. it is simple, fast and easy. Click HERE to go straight to Mailvu!

The steps of using Mailvu >>>>

1) Click the record button on the right hand side and start recording. (max 10 min)

2)You can also click on the play button to preview what have you recorded just now before you can actually send it to anyone.

3)After you have already satisfied with your message, click the send button and enter the necessary details such as the receiver email address and yours as well.

4)Now your task is finished and the receiver will get your message in an instant and could also reply back to you in the same way through Mailvu.

So what can you do with Mailvu in the class?

1) Speaking activity = The teachers could ask the student to make a a short message at home using Mailvu to promote an object that he or she would love the others to buy and send it to them. This will give the opportunity for the students to practice using the language and to improve their speaking skill as well. Plus,  a connected classroom can be established as through this activity, students will not only be learning on how to use the language at school but also learning and practising using the language at home with a specific purpose.

other topic/activity :
--Draw a timeline and share stories on why the dates or the year are important to them. Is it meaningful or full with painful memories.

--Share their interest, talents or hobbies such as cooking, playing, climbing rocks, etc...

2)Listening activity :
-- The teachers or the students can use the tool and record themselves to give the listening input for the class to hear later.  Thus, the students are going to be more excited and motivated to listen to someone that they know rather than a stranger doing it.

3)Writing activity:
Teachers could send videos of them speaking a certain topic to the student at home and they need to summarize what they have understood as well as they own comments about it.

Why i like this tool?

• Its free 

• The steps of using it is simple, fast, and easy.

• It encourage the students to speak as well as improving their skills by practicing a number of times while doing the recording.

• Allows connected classroom becomes a reality. This happens when it create a chance for the students to link what they have learned in class and still using it at home with a solid purpose.

• The tool itself is fun to experiment on and the students will feel more motivated to learn in the classroom.

• Plus, it gives a refreshing new way of learning or even as a homework where students can now change The words they used to express through writing to become more alive and real to see. Its interesting for them and even make the students become more engage with the lesson.

Limitations >>>

• The video is only limited for 10 min 

• We can only share our video messages through email 

• There is not direct chat box for the receiver or anyone else to comment or reply.

• As it is a free version, no code is given for us to embed our video in our website.

• The receiver can't actually download the video and can only watch it through email.

• There is no pause button and we need to record everything in just one go.

Other options >>>

  KEEK

As an alternative, KEEK is also a website that have the same functions as what Mailvu does and it can offers a code for us to embed our video in our websites. Therefore if you would like to share your video publicly in your blog, you can use KEEK instead of Mailvu. Unfortunately there are some drawbacks of using KEEK as it only allows us to record a 30 sec video rather than Mailvu who offers a 10 min video. Clik here to try KEEK yourself!!

 

Listen & Write >> Improve listening skills through audios and videos

LISTEN & WRITE

This website is specially designed  to help learners to improve their listening capabilities of the English language through the help of  some multimedias. In simple, it basically provides a free system that provides thousands of videos and audios for us to choose throughout our learning process. Plus, some of the audios provided are related from the latest news all around the world. So learners would not only be polishing their listening skills but also increasing thier knowledge about what is happening around the world. It also comes with different levels of difficulity (lvl 2-26) which could accommodate various level of secondary school students age 13 to 17 years old.

In order to start the activity, learners should begin by selecting the level they want to challenge themselves with and choose a topic that interest them from the news options available in that level.

Then, they need to select which mode that they prefer to do in the process.

After that, learners can start listening and try to dictate as many words as possible untill all the words are correct. Interestingly, the listening part is devided into several parts and we can choose to listen to the content as many times as we want untill all the words are correct.There is also a hint button to help use in certain time or we could easily change to different mode according to our learning rate.

Using audio only:

Why this website is very reliable for teachers or students to use:

• Apart from being completely free, this websites offers a lot of topics for the learners to choose from starting from the latest news updates or even to the knowledgble one. This will somehow generate the students interest to polish thier own skill by choosing a topic that they like.
• It also promote students to become autonomous where it is an activity that engage students to continue in their learning process and improving thier skills without any help from the teachers or anyone else.
• In fact, by listening to the speakers, students could be more familiar with different accents by different people and also learn on how to pronounce certain words correctly.
• Visual aid also provide some kind of support for the learners while they are listening by making it more real and fun to do.

Some of the limitations while using this website:

• only suitable for working individuality and not as a group. May be difficult for schools who have limited access to computers or even the internet.
• Some of the clips are easy although it is categorized as some of the difficult ones.
• students might be unfamiliar with some of the speakers's accent

Fancy trying it for yourself?? click HERE!

Dvolver

Fancy becoming a director? Eager to create your own short clips? Tired of writing boring stuff? Worry not..DVOLVER has the answer to all of it.

DVOLVER is a new technology that could make learning English more creative and fun for the students and even for the teachers to use it in class.It is a website Which encourage students to come out with a cartoon comic strip type movie online using pre-made graphics.The sites is so easy to use,free and suitable for beginners of lower secondary students aged 12-15 years old. In fact, with just a few minutes familiarizing with the website, students can easily start their own short creative production using different context, storylines and crazy ideas!! Just how much fun is that. The best part is students will not only think on how to make their clips interesting but also need to think hard on how to make use the language comprehensible to the readers.


Here's a sample that we can make through DVOLVER..or you can click HERE to try it for youself.





Although Dvolver has some of the main interesting features that could make learning becomes more fun and addictive, it does have its own drawbacks especially when it comes with technology.

The advantages:

• I find the websites amusing as it promotes the students to become more creative by making thier own stories as they desire through pre-made graphics available.
• Students will also engage with real life communication as they need to carefully compose the right language used with the right context.
• Plus, the website itself is load with different characters, musics, and scenaries available for the learners to choose from making the results more interesting and fun to do in class.
• It could also encaurage the  students to become autonomous as the students could make use of the website at home and experiment with the language more freely and countinuosly.
• Surprisingly, the most important thing Dvolver has to offer is that the website is completely FREE and anyone could use it till their hearts content.

The drawbacks:

• The number of words that is allowed in the dialogue are limited to 100 words. Thus, this will restrict the students capability of using the language freely.
• Too much freedom would make the students to be out of control and use inappropriate language in thier work.
• Some of the schools or even the students' home will not have the access to the internet and this will make learning through Dvolver unaccessible.
• Students are not able to edit thier own product and need to start all over again in order to make new corrections. 
• The learners creativity are restricted as they can only use the characters, musics, and background that is pre-made for them to use without having the opportunity to create one of thier own.