mailvu video email and keek

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hello everyone!! today i've been introduced to a very cool website which is called mailvu video email. 

WHAT IS

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ever heard about it before??

THIS IS SOOO COOL. It is a website where you can record a video of you and you can share it with your friends by sending them an email.

the caption of this website:

Kinda cool, isn't?

This website is free and it has a 14 days free trial. What's the difference then?
the free version:videos can be emailed to others but can't be embedded onto other websites
the paid/14 days free trial version:videos can be emailed to others, can be embedded and many more features available.
 so, take this chance! sign up! record your video! send it to your friends! 

to use this one, you have to sign up an account, but if you want to use the free version, you don't need to sign up.

LET'S DO IT!

go to HERE, then click learn more about free account

then sign up (if you want to try the 14 days free trial version)

 choose free plan.try first before you upgrade it to business plan, then click sign up

after you've sign up, this is your dashboard. click on pictures for bigger view. 

if you want to record a video, you MUST allow access to your mic and webcam, if you deny, you can't record a video

a recording window will pop out and you can start recording.there is time remaining stated there, you can replay the recorded video. you can send it to other people or you can share it with others

send it to your friends

if you want to upload a video from your computer

you can also view you saved videos, you can either send it or delete it

this is how it looks when you got the invitation to view the video email. just click on the PLAY button

then, it will direct you here. you can reply the video or create your own video mail.

As a language teacher, I think I can use this tool in my classroom. How??

• I can ask students to decide the most favourite item that they like to use (eg:shampoo, toothpaste etc), record a video of the students promoting the item and persuade their classmates to buy the item. *students get to learn different skills:the use of persuasive language, personalisation is involved here as students describe the item that they like, enhance speaking ability*
• ask students to describe the unique/strange experience in their life and record it at home, then send it to the teacher's email. this can be done as a homework *less formal so students can express themselves in front of videocam,personalisation since the topic is about students itself, lower affective filter (Krashen,1987) because students don't have to talk in front of the class, so motivate them to be more confident*
• ask students to record an interview with a friend  by asking them a set of personal questions about your friends. *This can make students motivated because they have purpose for listening and asking (communicating meaningfully) and they can communicate using authentic language. Moreover, students will be more relaxed because it's a communication between two speakers.*
• asking students to record a video of a student sharing things that they are good at (eg:cooking, wearing scarfs with different styles, make up tutorials and etc). This can be done monthly. *this kind of thing really help students not only in terms of language ability, but also in terms of content; expand students general knowledge by sharing and exchanging opinion about different things*
• can be used to do a listening activity  as well, where teacher could record a video he/she talking about a topic, play the video in the classroom, and give students a set of questions to answer/ask them to write an essay/discuss about the topic in groups *students' listening skills can be improved, writing skills too, or communicating skills if they are asked to discuss the topic with friends*

I LIKE IT. WHY??

• by using this, there are changes in the types of homework, not only writing in a book, but recording a video, and I think this what makes it cooler! students don't have to submit it by hand, rather just by email
• it can connect the practise that students did in classroom with homework. So this is one of the connected classroom activities. In my opinion, it is more effective way of learning because when they go home they won't feel the burden of a homework, rather they will feel that it is something fun to do (because i think students nowadays love internet sooo much)
• the files can be sent to people, can be deleted and saved in your own account
• if you get an invitation to view others' video, you can reply it by using the same way
• you can embed it to the other websites
• you can share videos with other people and this will encourage a lot real interaction, so your speaking skills as well as listening skills can be improved

THINGS THAT I HATE ABOUT IT.WHY?

• sometimes there are some technical problems happen; eg: i) when you press backspace key whilst you are filling the details to send the email to whom, the page will suddenly disappear, and you have to fill in the recipients' details again, ii) when a problem occur, the video can't be recorded even after you've refreshed the page. this might also be because there are many people using this website as the same time *it happened to me many times before*
• people who get invited can only view the video, but they can't download it. the only person who can download it is the video maker
• it is not free. Only free for 14 days.so after 14 days you have to buy it in order to use it
• the duration of recording is limited to 10 minutes

THERE IS ANOTHER WEBSITE THAT IS QUITE SIMILAR TO MAILVU, WHICH IS CALLED

IT IS QUITE SIMILAR to MAILVU in terms of:

-the way it can be used in the classroom

-the way of how it works
-the application is available for iPhones and smart phones' users

BUT, THE DIFFERENCES ARE:

-it's FREE but you have to sign up to use it

-it can be embedded onto the other websites and can be emailed to others as well
-it only allows 30 seconds recording

SO THESE ARE SOME SNAPSHOTS FROM KEEK:

homepage

steps to record a video

your profile. people can comment by videos or written comment

your dashboard

SOOO???

SIGN UP! RECORD! SEND!

GOOOOOO!!

.that's it.

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click and learn

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Click AND Learn!!

WHAT IS IT?

Find it HERE

this is a very interesting website to be used by students to learn English in terms of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and general knowledge. It is actually a website made by French government for their students to learn English so this websites contain some of French instructions that can't be translated.

HOW TO USE IT??

EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES THAT I DID:

There are three activities that i have tried. So far, these activities have both pros and cons. I'll list it based on every  activities:

(1) PRONUNCIATION ACTIVITY

WHAT IS GOOD:

-it models Ss with the right pronunciation of the words ending with -ed suffix

-Ss can repeat the sound of the words are pronounced

-the next activities are related to the previous activities and I think this is a good thing since Ss learn by using i+1 concept where they have some kind of comprehensible input in learning new lesson

-some of the activities are repeated activities so that Ss can train themselves (like a drilling activity and then be familiar with the structure)

-Ss can learn the rules of grammar effectively by the aids of visual and sound

-score is given so that Ss can know their level and this can motivate them as well

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:

-We can't go back to the previous page because there's no button for it and this can make Ss lost interest of the activities that are more challenging as they can't refer to the previous activities

-there's an activity that Ss need to drag the words, but it's not working well (the way it is dragged is sometimes out of control)

-sometimes the sound by the speaker is not clear enough and confusing, so it will cause Ss to give a wrong answer

(2) GRAMMAR ACTIVITY

WHAT IS GOOD:

-it gives some information about the use of the grammar structure so Ss can have a little knowledge about that or refresh their previous lesson about the structure in order to do the task

-fill in the blanks exercise with the given answers is quite traditional and Ss is familiar with it so they can manage to do the exercise without having to write and type the words since they only have to drag the word to the correct place

-the nest task require Ss to type the answer themselves but the choice of words are given so it will help Ss to answer the questions without having a spelling error

-the exercise are also given by using the context of everyday life and this is quite effective because it is personal to the students, in addition their motivation level will increase

-Ss can learn from the incorrect answer because they won't be able to proceed to the next task without giving the right answer

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:

-can't go back to the previous page to view the information

-the dragging activity is out of control (can't drag it properly so it may cause Ss to drag the words to the incorrect places then it will deduct the score)

-it deducts score for every incorrect answer and this will make Ss lost interest in doing these activities

-(IN MY CASE) if i make a spelling mistake and want to delete it by pressing the "backspace" button, the websites go crazy to HOMEpage again. It happens twice and I'm really fed up to continue the exercise. it could happen to Ss as well.

(3) ISSUES ACTIVITY

WHAT IS GOOD:

-it gives visual information (which is good) at the beginning before Ss do the tasks so that Ss will have a general idea regarding the topic so this can prepare them before doing the actual task

-the activity is TRUE and FALSE activity where Ss need to read a short question then mark whether the statements are true or false. If the Ss get the answer right, more detail information about the statements will appear on the screen

-At the end of the activities, there is a game which is a quite interesting way to arouse Ss' interest

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:

-it is too wordy (contains too much words which can make Ss lost interest because they need to read a very long text) *I don't like it either*

-The game as well, too many options of answers to be read before choosing the right one. I think it is not worth reading all that for only one answer because you have a lot of doors to open (one door one question) and this will consume much time.

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GENERALLY,

I think this website is good to be used by students, BUT the teacher MUST be selective. Try to do the activities by yourself first before asking your Ss to do it in the classroom. So, if you encounter any problem, you can prepare for it or avoid using the problematic part. While doing the activities yourself, try to FIND any pros and cons especially, then how to deal with the cons (if you really want to use the activities)

FOR ANY HELP/SUPPORT, this websites prepare these:

these can be used by teacher as a guidance before choosing what activities can be used before teaching Ss


happy CLICKING and LEARNING!!


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