SymbalooEDU is a 2.0 web tool that allows users to collect, in one single and comfortable page, a gathering of web links of their choice. This page, which is called a "webmix", can be personalised in a variety of manners, for example the colours displayed, the backgrounds, the settings and position of the buttons that carry these links, etc. It can be made the start page in your browser, be it Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Explorer, and also enables the viewer to browse through a wide variety of webmixes arranged by other users, and who have chosen to share them publicly, so that other people may benefit from their own knowledge of the resources available on the net. Through the browser, in the SymbalooEDU page (or simply in Symbaloo) one can find many webmixes about the subjects that interest us most.
I am going to show you now a few examples of webmixes available in SymbalooEDU about English learning and teaching:
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| http://edu.symbaloo.com/home/mix/vocabularyspellingcity |
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| http://edu.symbaloo.com/home/mix/grammar10 |
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| http://edu.symbaloo.com/home/mix/librarysymbaloo |
These are fantastic examples of webmixes that offer a great deal of links to resources of all types and levels for English teaching and acquisition. I heartily encourage you to explore them whenever you feel like getting more material; in these links you will find plenty of exercises, free lessons, forums, and so forth.
And this is my own webmix on SymbalooEDU:
http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/communicatecwyt
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| My webmix in SymbalooEDU, called CommunicateCWYT |
Ok, I am going to explain these links one by one so that you may visit the ones that interest you best, if you feel like to:
First of all, there is a central box, as you can see from the picture, with the Google search. I am sorry to tell you that sometimes this has not worked properly, and when it does the feeling is funny, sort of incomplete; it does not portray the full options of the common Google search like videos, maps, news etc., nor autofill, automatic definitions or maps,... at least for the time being. Nevertheless, in the case it did not work well by now or was still abridged, for sure it would be perfected soon, so it is always useful to have a handy Google search box in the centre of the webmix.
Above the Google search box, you will find a button leading to this blog, besides another linking to my YouTube channel. While I am going to write and share here reading material, links etc., through my YouTube channel I plan to feature the best material I find in the form of videos, listenings, etc., and maybe with time produce some of my own, so please do not hesitate to visit it and browse through all the channels I have subscribed to already, which offer a whole lot of listening and teaching materials of the highest quality.
Under the Google search you will find the links to many web tools related to connecting with people online, social networks, mails, etc. that more or less everybody knows: Gmail, Windows Live, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Feedly, which is a tool designed to gather and arrange in a more comfortable way the posts and updates from our favourite blogs.
In the top left-hand corner you will find a series of tools devoted to the learning and evaluation of our knowledge on the English language. Duolingo is one of the most important ones: this program, which also may be installed in tablets or smartphones, allows the user to learn a language at his or her own pace and with excellent methodology, media and material, completely for free and without ads. Currently, Duolingo offers courses oin English, French, and Portuguese. It is highly recommended.
Apart from Duolingo, on that corner you will find the dictionary-thesaurus by Merriam-Webster, completely for free and which also features the option of translation into Spanish. Most importantly, through the dictionary it also offers the possibility of listening to the words we have looked up and check their phonetics.Through the thesaurus, one finds a wide range of definitions with a generous array of synonyms and antonyms.
By the Merriam-Webster there is the thesaurus by Synonyms.net specialised in synonyms and antonyms, with the peculiarity that it portrays mind maps for each search, creating thus a better and more visual organisation. Actually, by this its button you will find the one that leads to Biggerplate, a library for mind maps shared for free, directly to the section of education, which is filled up with mind maps about English, very easy to find through the search button, like mind maps about the irregular verbs, grammar, vocabulary, and so forth.
Above Biggerplate and Synonyms.net you will find Grammar Monster and WordReference. Grammar Monster is a flawless, magnific website that analyses all the grammar of English in depth, in an attractive and well-organised setting. It deals with grammar, punctuation, orthography, syntax, common mistakes... it is simply the perfect grammar website, all in one. As for WordReference, it is an excellent compendium of dictionaries in many languages, including conjugations of verbs, etc. But the crucial feature about WordReference is that it holds a most well-known forum which is a must-know for any student of a language, where one can share his or her knowledge or ask for any questions or doubts one has about the usage of the language we are studying, and where one can receive answers from both scholars and natives.
The four buttons that appear below these already mentioned are all completely dedicated to exercises in English: EnglishExercises.org; Free English Grammar Exercises; Free English Grammar Lessons, and Advanced English Lessons. Be it on their own or accompanied by lessons, these pages share a comprehensive set of exercises on English, either online or downloadable in the form of .pdf archives or printable worksheets.
On the bottom left-hand corner, right below the links already mentioned, you will find material that is more audiovisual, devoted to reading and listening. TED and TEDx are two channels on YouTube devoted to speeches, be them from official TED or independently organised, in TEDx. They are magnific channels devoted to very interesting people speaking about many cultural, scientific and social issues, and most of the videos have subtitles available. They are magnific for getting listenings of advanced level. By these links you will find the ones by Project Gutemberg and Classic Reader. These two sites offer written texts that can be downloaded for free, and, according to the laws of the USA, of public domain. Both offer an extensive list of literary texts of all genres, essays, drama plays, etc. Classic Reader offers as well a full category devoted entirely to the young reader, which also means that the texts are easier to read and understand, and thus fit for people of intermediate or upper-intermediate level of English.
Together with these links, there is one devoted exclusively to one video in particular: The History of English in 10 minutes. This video has subtitles in English available, and explains, as it is stated in the title, a short history of the English language in 10 minutes, from the moment when the Romans left the British Isles to modernity. It is a funny video and a perfect aid to practice the listening and reading skills, to acquire more knowledge of the English history and culture, and which provides as well a set of loanwords of Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norman, Native American or Hindi origin, amongst others.
On the top right-hand corner of the webmix you will find three more videos on their own: Phonemic Chart Animated; Interactive Phonetic Chart, and IPA Phonetic Transcription. As you will see, the three of them are dedicated to the subject of the listening of the different sounds in English, the study of its production, the practice of their repetition. As it is one of the crucial parts of the acquisition of the language, there they are the three of them, readily set in the webmix for an easy and immediate access. By these three videos, there are a whole group of YouTube channels from English teachers online offering lessons with exercises of all levels: Minoo Anglo-Link; Rachel's English; iswearenglish; English with Adam; TeacherMelanie; JenniferESL and JamesESL English Lessons. They are magnific channels to explore, with Rachel's English and TeacherMelanie more devoted to the American accent, and Minoo Anglo-Link to the English accent. JamesESL shows a Canadian-USA accent. All these people, and so many more on YouTube, offer a magnific work for free on the net and they touch a variety of subjects on English learning and teaching, as well as providing a magnific source for listening. Besides these channels, you can find another one devoted entirely to dialogues and conversations dramatised in English, Learn English Conversations, and another one dedicated to the reading of poems in English with the lyrics shown at the same time on the screen: SpokenTreasures. This is not a very extensive channel, but as it portrays many different authors like Shane Koyczan, Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye, one can look for more poetry about these authors on the net or in YouTube itself, and this can lead us to meeting even more authors, so it is a good choice to have in the webmix.
Finally, on the bottom right-hand corner you will find a few YouTube channels devoted to material for kids, in case it might interest your sons, nephews, or any kid you know that might benefit from learning a little bit more about English. There are loads of channels about songs in English for kids on the net, but Dream English Kids, Super Simple Songs, and KidsTV123 are three of the best ones in my opinion: the material they offer is really funny, of the highest quality, and children love it. There is another link beside them, bookboxinc, a channel devoted exclusively to the reading short and very simple tales with the lyrics, appropriate for children and people still with a lower level of mastery of the language.
So, this is my webmix fully explained. Most probably I will develop more webmixes with time, almost surely devoted to English material exclusively for children. Whenever I do that, I will post them here as an update. Always remember that you can take any of these webmixes and modify them at your pleasure, depending on the links you want to add or remove for your own convenience. And, of course, you can also develop your own webmisex and share them to the public as well. I hope that the webmixes I displayed here as well as the links I have talked you about have been useful to you. Please, do not forget to give me your feedback. Greetings and all the best! Read you soon! :)
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