Teachers use the Internet for a range of reasons: to supplement their lessons with attractive material, to promote inquiry learning amongst their students, to search for fresh ideas and “rejuvenate” their profession or to find tools making their teaching more interactive and more efficient. Using the internet brings the ‘real world’ into the classroom and gives the students an opportunity to explore learning in a different way.1https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-internet-2 With numerous reputable organisations such as museums, libraries, colleges or universities opening up their virtual “gates”, the Internet has become a fantastic repository of valuable materials. So, let’s explore!
OCTOBER
USEFUL TOOLS
Definitely number 1 tool for editing pdfs. It doesn’t limit you to just 2 documents per hour like smallpdf.com. It gives a very good preview of pages. The only thing that is not on a par with Ilovepdf or smallpdf.com is converting pdf to word. While simple pdfs look OK, the program definitely struggles with converting tables, charts and other visuals.
DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
A collection of posters which might be used for both – younger learners and adults, found on Common Sense Education website, together with other fantastic resources on digital citizenship.
TEACHING RESOURCES
Teaching about democracy: A very short video giving a brief history of democracy together with a customised lesson plan on TED-Ed fits in nicely in the Living in Scotland unit. You can use it separately (link) as a prompt followed by other materials, for example the “Cradle of Democracy” handout found on ICivics website. Both resources are free to use for non-commercial purposes as long as they are fully accredited.
Other resources:
A British Council lesson on “Who’s got the power” developing listening skills through watching a humorous video about British democracy – here. And another British Council resource on Election and voting in the UK – here.
