Mobile App for EFL: BUSUU

   As the world changes, the people’s relationships between each other become more and more collaborative. Every human being needs another one to live. But we, humans, do not use just one language in the world. So, it sometimes becomes hard to communicate. Besides all foreign language schools, courses, books etc. there are also other things that promotes our learning. Undoubtedly mobile apps are one of the best ones.

   As a weekly project, we were supposed to introduce an app that can be installed and used on a mobile device for language teaching/learning purposes. My mobile app is : Busuu!

   Busuu is an online language learning community which enables learners to learn a new language. You can use it online on its website or you can download it to your mobile phone There are 12 languages you can learn. It covers 150 different topics based on day-to-day situations, with over 3,000 words and example phrases.

   The study material for a language is around 150 units. Units consist of multiple-choice questions, speaking assignments and writing assignments. Some sections within each unit include multimedia material, such as spoken multiple-choice questions. Users act as both student and tutor, correcting one another's work. They can converse via chat-window, an audio connection, or a webcam connection. All of the units are designed for your improvement of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills.

You can find screenshots of app:




   Activity example; learners can develop their writing skills by writing about any topic and sending it to native speakers to correct their mistakes.
You can use Busuu online or download it to your android / ios 
Hope you enjoy :)

Digital Storytelling

Hello everyone!

   Not just kids but also teenagers, adults and even old people love stories. For example, is there anyone who does not know Little Red Riding Hood? Or is there anyone does not want to be a prince or just a character in a story?

   Then, what about using stories in our teaching? Moreover, what about using digital stories?

   Digital story can be described shortly as full-motion video with sound. It is mixture of images, graphics, music and author's own story voice.

   With the help of these stories, we can go beyond traditional storytelling and engage students in our topic.                                          

   As you see, our weekly topic is digital storytelling. In this project my partner was Ebru Hoşgör We were supposed to create our own fictional digital stories. Here is our steps;

1-We developed characters and wrote the script.

2-We recorded our voices.

3-We created our story parallel with our storyboard. Of course our draft was present but we used Autodesk Sketchbook Pro to draw pictures because of our bad drawings. We wanted to make it more qualified. So, after creating our story we drew main scenes of it. Hope you like our storyboard, too :)

4-We used Powtoon to make our story. Powtoon is a combination of presentation and animated cartoon. It is an online business presentation software tool that allows you to create free, cool, and awesome animated cartoons. The only thing you should do is just joining for free. And the rest is your creativity. When you join, you can achieve all tools that premium members have for 2 days.

5-Then finally we added our background music in Moviemaker.

We enjoyed during our project. Sometimes, creating scenes became problem and also arranging voices and musics accordingly, too. However, it was good.

Here is our story :)

And when we come my opinions about using digital storytelling in foreign language education: it is useful for all ages. If we want our students to create their own stories, we should support them with our help closely, if they are young. Especially for their thinking in target language and pronunciation, it is very effective. As a future teacher, I believe that it will be very fun both for me and my students to use digital stories.