Mind Games

Mind Games is a website that offers a variety of games to challenge our minds. The different types of games include brain games, math games, puzzle games, word games, sudoku puzzles, and memory games. To practice one's English, you can play the games featured in word games category. You can practice your spelling and vocabulary by playing these games.

An example of the word games this website offers is the Word Wipe. This game, like the other games is easy to play. You just need to follow the simple instructions on the screen. However, as you advance further and your rankings increase, so will your level. The complexity of the game starts here. The higher your level is, the more complex the challenges would be. For this game, the instructions are simple, no matter how high your level is. You are required to join adjacent letters to form words and a time limit would be assigned. You need to create as many word as you can within that time limit. The more words you are able to create, the higher your mark would be and the higher your mark is, the more likely for you to advance a level higher.

This website benefits both the teachers and students. In English classes, for example, as a side activity to gain the students' attention again after a lengthy lesson, the teacher can assign them to play these word games to test their spelling and vocabulary. As the students play the game, the teacher can walk around the class and monitor their progress and give commentaries where it is due. This can help the students to relax and enjoy for a brief moment all the while gaining something from that period of time they spent resting.

This tool is indeed beneficial for ESL teachers as they provide a more interactive approach than the traditional method of teaching. In a traditional classroom, the teacher is the dominant figure and the students would only listen majority of the time. By using this website, teachers would be able to initiate interaction in the classroom, be it among the students or between the students and the teacher, making it more lively like how a language classroom should be This is because, the games provided on this website can be played both individually or in a team. Learners differ in their method of acquiring knowledge. Some learners are more visual while some are more auditory. The games in this website have both of those features incorporated into them. While there is no method that could cater to the needs of every students in one classroom, the many interactive, interesting features on this website could at least help the learners learn in their own way without falling behind their other classmates.

You do not need to sign up or create an account to access the games. It is also free to use for everyone.

ESL Games+

ESL Games Plus or ESL Games+ is an online platform that offers interactive games for learning and teaching of English as a Second Language. The games can only be played online and are most suitable to be used in an ESL classroom to make it more interesting. This website offers a variety of games ranging from those that cover vocabulary, grammar, spelling, to sentences.

There are seven buttons on display at the top of this website - the home button, games button, topics button, quizzes button, videos button, printables button and mobile button. Each of these button will direct you to the chosen section. If you click on the home button, the main page will be on display. On the main page, you can find the description of this website by the developers themselves. You can also browse the popular games section and the popular videos section at the left side of the platform, with the former being on the upper side and the latter on the lower side. You can also identify the different types of games they offer by reading the descriptions of the games that are displayed on the main page.

Next, if you click on the games button, the page that you will be directed to would display the different types of games they have to offer, with each of them sorted into their specific types. Some of the games are classroom games, memory games, sentence monkey (to practice constructing sentences), spelling games, and board games.

The topics button will give you an overview of what kind of topics are available on this website. For example, if they want to focus on verbs they can click on the topics button to see if it is there. It is, in fact, included in one of the topics on this online platform. There is also the quiz button that can direct you to the exercises that you can do to practice your English.

Other than that, there is the videos button that will give you access to the ESL videos. These videos can help you learn more about the English language by using both visual and auditory aids, which makes it beneficial both teachers and learners of ESL. The printables button allows you to print out the interesting worksheets such as crossword puzzles, word search puzzles, and flash cards. The mobile button will direct you to the links if you want to play the games on mobile.

This tool is indeed beneficial for ESL teachers as they provide a more interactive approach than the traditional method of teaching. In a traditional classroom, the teacher is the dominant figure and the students would only listen majority of the time. By using this website, teachers would be able to initiate interaction in the classroom, be it among the students or between the students and the teacher, making it more lively like how a language classroom should be This is because, the games provided on this website can be played both individually or in a team.

This website not only benefits the teachers but the learners as well. Learners differ in their method of acquiring knowledge. Some learners are more visual while some are more auditory. The games in this website have both of those features incorporated into them. While there is no method that could cater to the needs of every students in one classroom, the many interactive, interesting features on this website could at least help the learners learn in their own way without falling behind their other classmates. This tool can also help them be more cooperative in class, develop team work and improve their self-confidence as the games can be played in teams as well.

You do not need to sign up or create an account to access the games, quizzes and puzzles. It is also free to use for everyone. I will be showing the guidelines on getting started with the tool in the form of a self-made video below.

Original Video

YouTube Video

Tinycards

Tinycards is an online platform that enables you to create interactive flash cards to help you study. You can hear the correct pronunciation, provide visuals, and discover new elements as you progress. This tool offers a new and fun way to prepare for your upcoming tests and memorize vocabularies with all of its amazing, interactive features. The flash card is equipped with spaced repetition and other smart learning techniques to help you in memorizing. You can create your own cards or choose from the ready-made ones on the website, just search for the topics that you are interested in learning. It is also easy to use and can be accessed by anyone, students or teachers alike, for free.

The main feature of this website is, of course, the flash cards. You can create your own flash cards by clicking on the 'Create' button on the upper left corner of this website. After creating your own cards, you can view it by clicking on your profile.

Next, click on the topic that you want to study, it will direct you to this page:

As you can see, there are two sections there. The lesson section and the cards section. The lesson section is for when you want to do some exercises on the topic. It will auto-generate questions based on the contents that you provided in your flashcards. If you want to study first, you can simply click on the cards button to view the contents before you actually get started on the lesson.

This tool can be used by both the teachers and the students. It is indeed beneficial for a teacher to implement it in the classroom as they can encourage the students to think more creatively on how to study. Since this website offers a variety of studying tools, the teacher can introduce them to the students so that they can use it in their future learning sessions, be it individually or in a group. It will create a more fun classroom that allows the students to be motivated to learn. It also enables the teacher to approach and understand the students in a new way that is different from the one in traditional classrooms.

Students could help improve their grades by using this tool. This is because this tool allows students access to a variety of features that would be helpful for them in all aspects of learning, such as the correct pronunciation, spelling, so on and so forth. They can use this tool to help them study the many terminologies that they are supposed to remember as well using the flash card feature available on this website. Students would feel more interested in learning if tools like this is implemented in the classroom. This is due to the fact that this website promote creative thinking by applying graphics and many other interesting visual and auditory aids that can attract the students' attention in class.

Below is a self-made video on the guidelines of how to get started in using this tool:

Original Video

YouTube Video

Website Link

Nearpod

Nearpod is an interactive presentation and assessment tool that can be used to add amazing effect in the classroom. The app's concept is simple. A teacher can create presentations that can contain quizzes, polls, videos, images, drawing-boards, web content and so on.

The features included in this tool consists of creating or uploading presentation slides. You can upload your slides or create them by clicking on the 'My Nearpod' button on the top right corner next to your profile. You can create online lessons and invite students to join the lesson by distributing them the code. Nearpod also allows you to monitor your students' progress during the lesson. It allows you to control the contents that will be appearing on your students' screens. Not only that, this tool also provides you with various other interesting features like the ones stated above which you can use to make your lessons more interesting.

Next, you can add activities on your slides such as quizzes and questions. Unlike the traditional Powerpoint presentation, the quizzes and questions displayed on a Nearpod slideshow is more interactive as you can evaluate the answers the moment the students have answered theirs by providing this program with the actual answer beforehand or when you are making the questions. You can choose the types of quizzes or questions that you want to make, whether it is a multiple choice question or an open ended question.

Other interesting features include adding polls to your slideshow, games such as 'Matching Pairs', 'Filling in the Blanks', 'Draw It', 'Collaborate' and 'Memory Test'. The most interesting activity, in my opinion, is the 'Draw It' activity. Teachers can give instructions on what the students are supposed to draw and the students will proceed to draw it on the platform itself. 'Collaborate' is interesting as well. It allows the students' responses and ideas to be featured live among their peers during the lesson. It is a type of interactive brainstorming tool. There is also a summary of your students' participation in the lesson on the 'Report' section. You can view it once a lesson has finished.

This tool benefits both the students and the teachers. It provides the classroom with a more fun and interactive atmosphere where the students can share their opinions, discuss on the topics given and provide feedbacks on the lesson in a more interesting way. It provides a more interactive approach than the traditional method of teaching. In a traditional classroom, the teacher is the dominant figure and the students would only listen majority of the time. By using this website, teachers would be able to initiate interaction in the classroom, be it among the students or between the students and the teacher, making it more lively like how a language classroom should be This is because, the features provided on this website mostly consists of team-building types of activities.

This website not only benefits the teachers but the learners as well. Learners differ in their method of acquiring knowledge. Some learners are more visual while some are more auditory. The contents in this website have both of those features incorporated into them. While there is no method that could cater to the needs of every students in one classroom, the many interactive, interesting features on this website could at least help the learners learn in their own way without falling behind their other classmates. This tool can also help them be more cooperative in class, develop team work and improve their self-confidence as the games can be played in teams as well.

Below is the guideline on getting started with this tool in a self-made video format instead of text for better understanding on how to use it.

Original Video

YouTube Video

Website Link

Quizlet

Quizlet is a web-based tool that allows users to create study tools such as interactive flashcards, tests, and study games. This tool allows you access to its' basic features, which is enough if you just want to access it freely. You can try new, interactive methods of studying provided by the developer and experience studying in a whole other way.

This website offers a variety of studying tools that can be used by both students and teachers. One of the most prominent feature of this website is the flash card. You can create a study set by clicking on the 'Create' button at the top right corner of the screen. These flash cards are suitable for memorizing a set of terminologies. You can write the description of the term on the front of the card and the term on the back of it. There is even an audio feature where you can listen to an automated voice reading the flash card if you clicked on it. You can even add pictures if you upgraded to the paid version.

By clicking on one of the study sets, you will be directed to a web page where you can choose to either memorize the terms first by clicking on the 'Flashcard' button or do some exercises by clicking on the 'Learn', 'Write', 'Spell', 'Test', 'Match', and 'Gravity' buttons - all of which have the same aim which is to help you practice the topic but in different types of formats.

Next, the 'Search' button allows you to browse for specific diagrams or study sets according to the topic that you want to learn at that moment. Creating a class can also be done where you can group each study sets into their specific classes. Not only that, you can even a create a folder to sort your sets into.

This tool can be used by both the teachers and the students. It is indeed beneficial for a teacher to implement it in the classroom as they can encourage the students to think more creatively on how to study. Since this website offers a variety of studying tools, the teacher can introduce them to the students so that they can use it in their future learning sessions, be it individually or in a group. It will create a more fun classroom that allows the students to be motivated to learn. It also enables the teacher to approach and understand the students in a new way that is different from the one in traditional classrooms.

Students could help improve their grades by using this tool. This is because this tool allows students access to a variety of features that would be helpful for them in all aspects of learning, such as the correct pronunciation, spelling, so on and so forth. They can use this tool to help them study the many terminologies that they are supposed to remember as well using the flash card feature available on this website. Students would feel more interested in learning if tools like this is implemented in the classroom. This is due to the fact that this website promote creative thinking by applying graphics and many other interesting visual and auditory aids that can attract the students' attention in class.

I will provide you the guidelines on getting started with Quizlet in an original video format instead of text for better understanding on how to use it.

Original Video

YouTube Video

Website Link

Smart Classroom

(Image taken from Google)

"Smart Classrooms are classrooms that prioritize the use of technologies during its' learning sessions. It exposes both teachers and the learners to learning and teaching tools that can be used in the classroom to make it more interactive and fun. Such tools include computers, specialized software, audience response technology, listening devices, networking, and audio or visual capabilities."

Smart classrooms provides students with an environment to truly see how other people think. They can give real time responses through these technologies of what they think on a certain topic, making other students ponder and thought to themselves about how they had not think of the issue from that perspective. Other than that, students could work collaboratively and cooperatively on the topic assigned to them by the teacher around a canvas. In a smart classroom, not only do you type on your devices, you can use other spaces as part of your learning environment where you can change ideas with your peers - walls, desks, tables, and in conversations.

Next, whatever one contributed to the classroom during the lesson will be kept in the cloud so we can be more comfortable in sharing or erasing something because it will not be lost. Seeing people share their ideas through visuals or words on the screens of our devices is a new and interesting way to acquire understanding and knowledge. Everything in your environment could make your discussion and exchange of opinions or ideas more immersive so you and your classmates can come to a better understanding. Smart classrooms usually does not require you to use your personal devices because it has already been equipped with it. However, there are some circumstances that allows you to use your personal devices in place of the ones in the classroom.

In a classroom, there are different types of learners. It is impossible to cater to every different types of learners' needs. Some might find it hard to study from notes and other materials, while some might find it easy. The smart classroom concept allows a teacher to monitor the students' progress and identify what kind of method best suits them and give them advice on how to execute those techniques.

This tool benefits both the students and the teachers. It provides the classroom with a more fun and interactive atmosphere where the students can share their opinions, discuss on the topics given and provide feedbacks on the lesson in a more interesting way. It provides a more interactive approach than the traditional method of teaching. In a traditional classroom, the teacher is the dominant figure and the students would only listen majority of the time. By using this 'smart classroom' concept, teachers would be able to initiate interaction in the classroom, be it among the students or between the students and the teacher, making it more lively like how a language classroom should be.

This website not only benefits the teachers but the learners as well. Learners differ in their method of acquiring knowledge. Some learners are more visual while some are more auditory. Smart classrooms have both of those features incorporated into them. While there is no method that could cater to the needs of every students in one classroom, the many interactive, interesting features in this type of learning environment could at least help the learners learn in their own way without falling behind their other classmates. It can also help them be more cooperative in class, develop team work and improve their self-confidence.

YouTube Video

Math Playground

Math Playground is a website created by Colleen King in 2002 that offers various problem solving math games in an interactive way so that children would be more eager to learn. Math Playground is a popular learning site filled with math games, logic puzzles, and a variety of problem solving activities. Math Playground provides a safe place for children to learn and explore math concepts at their own pace, making it a parents' and teacher's teachers favourite.

The lessons on this website are available for 1st Grade students up to 6th Grade students. One of the types of games is the problem solving or logic games. An example of game from this category is Sophia's World.

"Sophia's World
Join Sophia on an exciting adventure.
Animals have been kidnapped! Can you help Sophia rescue them? 
Watch out for snails, turtles and mice.
They will stop you from reaching your goal."

For this game, the instructions are very simple. As you can see from the quotation above, the character, Sophia embarks on an adventure to find missing animals. All you need to do is click on the pictures displayed, whether you want to click on the picture of the tiger, the panther, or the monkey. The levels differ for every animals. The tiger is at level 1, the panther at level 2, and the monkey at level 3. The higher the level, the harder its is for the player to complete the game. Once you have clicked on your preferred picture, all you need to do is navigate through the game by using the left, right, up, and down arrows on your keyboard to move the character, collect as many coins as you can and avoid the hurdles that will stop you from reaching your goal to clear the game.

This tool can be used by both the teachers and the students. It is indeed beneficial for a teacher to implement it in the classroom as they can expose the students to creative thinking. Since this website offers a variety of problem solving games related to numbers, the teacher can introduce them to the students so that they can use it in their future learning sessions, be it individually or in a group. It will create a more fun classroom that allows the students to be motivated to learn. It also enables the teacher to approach and understand the students in a new way that is different from the one in traditional classrooms.

Students could help improve their grades by using this tool. This is because this tool allows students access to a variety of features that would be helpful for them in acquiring knowledge. It also provides easier understanding of mathematical concepts by reading or watching the simplified version of it. They can use this tool to help them study. Students would feel more interested in learning if tools like this is implemented in the classroom. This is due to the fact that this website promote creative thinking by applying graphics and many other interesting visual and auditory aids that can attract the students' attention in class.

Website Link