CNA-Q CALL E-Newsletter

October 2008 Volume 2, Number 2

In This Issue Dear colleagues:

Tips and Tricks Eid Mubarak! Happy Thanksgiving! Welcome to our second collection of
interesting CALL materials for this semester.
About Us
All websites are working at press time—but remember, the Internet is a
Submissions Wanted moving target.

No need to save this document to find the websites—they will be available

permanently from the department’s CALL page, courtesy of Susan Curtis.
Links See “EFL-CALL Resources Website,” on the College’s Intranet home page.
Or just click the link here.
Server 9 - EFL

CALL Resources Web Pages

Ed Technology (TLC) Here is a collection of tools from UBC for making learning objects.
Whether a given tool actually
Templates & Tools works seems hit-and-miss, but
(TLC) there are some interesting ideas
here.
CNA-Q Library http://www.learningtools.arts.ubc.ca/

CNA-Q IT Tutorials
This site could be great for teaching students vocabulary to describe
people. It takes a photograph you upload, and
distorts it to illustrate various adjectives: happy,
angry, ugly … I even got it to make me look young
and thin (on the right)! Requires registration.
http://www.moonjee.com/

Here’s a screen-video-capture utility similar to CamStudio, but

completely online. You can, for example,
make a short video to show students how to
operate a certain program or use a given
web site.
http://www.screentoaster.com/

Here’s a quick demonstration video:

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/demo
– Rebecca Hatherley
 Here’s a slick-looking web site just
getting off the ground, a sort of
Facebook for ESL students. Might be
worth keeping an eye on.
http://www.englishcafe.com/?q=home
– Rebecca Hatherley

With this website, you can enter a

vocabulary list, and the site generates
games, cloze exercises, and spelling
quizzes. Requires registration.
http://www.spellingcity.com/

For those wanting to create learning objects, this web

site offers a variety of free tools, including two for
ensuring SCORM compliance.
http://www.simplelearningcreator.com/index.cfm

While the US election is still on, amuse and confuse your students by
playing this video, featuring them as US Presidential candidates.
They’ll listen to every word!
http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=379346&altf=Fvhfof&altl=Dbnqcfmm&lap=2

Here’s a sample of the result:

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=46832&altf=Kbtpo&altl=Spmmt

George Mason University is developing an online

accent archive. This could be useful for exposing our
students to the different Englishes they will
encounter in the real world of work in Qatar. If you
have QuickTime installed on your computer, you can hear a
transcript read in any number of different accents.
http://accent.gmu.edu/index.php

Here’s a tip for after hours: having trouble

knowing where to go for your next vacation?
At this site, you can get quite a lot of free
advice from fellow-travellers before having to
spring the cash for a copy of the relevant Lonely Planet guide. Be
nice and add your own experiences for the next vagrant.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Main_Page

Tips and Tricks

This website has lots of video tutorials on
popular software packages and tools like
PowerPoint, Flash, and PhotoShop. It’s like
 having Rebecca Hatherley right there in your computer!
http://www.teach-ict.com/videohome.htm
– Rebecca Hatherley

And as if that weren’t enough, here’s another MS Word tip from the
real Rebecca Hatherley:

Problem: Overlapping Graphics

Note the white background of one image here obscures the second image.
Fix: You can create a transparent area in most pictures.

1. Select the picture in which you want to create transparent areas.

2. On the Picture toolbar, click Set Transparent Color.

(To display the Picture toolbar, click Customize on the Tools menu,
then click the Toolbars tab, then click Picture.)

3. Click the color you want to make transparent.

The white overlapping background is

now gone.

About Us
CALL stands for Computer-Aided Language Learning. We on the CALL
committee have a mandate from the department to aid and abet you in
using educational technology in your classroom. We currently comprise two
committees: software evaluation and materials development. If you are
interested, we would be delighted to have you join us in this cause.
Current Members:
Steve Roney (chair),
John Allan (chair, materials development),
Sheldon Chisholm,
Douglas Culbert,
Susan Curtis,
Scott Dagilis,
Darlene Liutkus,
Cheri MacLeod (TLC liaison),
Scott Webber
Rebecca Hatherley (Academics liaison),
Dan Rieb
Larissa Conley
Linda Earl
Alan Vallely

Submissions Wanted
If you have a tech tip to share, or know of an interesting
and relevant website, please send it along to
Stephen.Roney@cna-qatar.edu.qa for inclusion in a future
issue.

A big thanks to those who contributed to this issue:

Rebecca Hatherley, Steve Roney.