Author: tokyokevin

  • Tool #61: Lesson Writer

    lessonwriterMake up vocabulary and reading lessons in minutes from prepared texts. Lesson Writer. Here is something from their web page.

    How it works

    • Copy & paste any text you choose into LessonWriter.
    • LessonWriter analyzes text for vocabulary, grammar and usage, pronunciation, and word roots and stems.
    • Then, LessonWriter writes a lesson plan and a lesson that teaches the skills you chose in the context of the passage – automatically.
  • Tool #60: Splicd: clip YouTube videos

    Start video at exactly the right place
    Start video at exactly the right place

    This little tool for YouTube videos is very simple. It splices your videos (hence the name splicd), so you can start and stop at exactly the right place.

    You can do this without a web site, by changing the URL at YouTube, but it is hard to remember how to do it. Here, you just put in the YouTube URL and the time it should start and stop.

  • Tool #59: Advanced Grammar Videos

    Advanced English Videos on Grammar
    Advanced English Videos on Grammar

    Some of the teachers in the department think that advanced topics in grammar must be taught in English. I beg to differ. Take a look at these clear explanations of advanced grammar points in videos from Business English Pod.

  • Tool #58: pbWiki

    simple wiki
    simple wiki

    If you don’t know what a wiki is, try the wikipedia entry for wiki (English, Japanese).

    pbwiki is one of the simplest sites to set up a wiki. It is designed to be as easy to make as a peanut butter sandwich (pb). Now, if you are using Moodle, there is a built-in multilingual wiki. But if you aren’t, this is a great alternative.

  • Tool #57: Vimeo: Video sharing

    Share HD video
    Share HD video

    YouTube is great for looking at and sharing video. But sometimes, you want more control over your distribution. With a Pro account (about $60 a year) at Vimeo, you can send out an email to people with a URL and a password. They don’t have to sign in to vimeo, or become a member. They can just watch the video online. And the videos can remain private to only those people you send emails to. You can also restrict which places can put up copies of your video (embedded) if you do decide to make the video public. There are also options to download the video as well as stream it. HD, or high definition, is the new standard in online video. Much better than previous versions.