Google Sites Blog: Sites goes international - but not in Hebrew

Very excited, I clicked on the Google Sites Blog: Sites goes international link only to discover that Hebrew is NOT among the Lucky 38 :(

How does one actually get accepted as a volunteer for translating Google services? I've filled out the application form more than once but never been acknowledged.

Anyway, you can now use Google Sites in the following languages: Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, English (UK), Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

OtherInBox Private Beta Invites

The otherinbox team have allocated 26 beta invites for readers of efl20 blog :)
All you need to do to get your account is click on this link http://beta.otherinbox.com/signup/dd4e8

OtherInBox - "The Cure For Email Overload" launched at the TC50 conference in San Francisco earlier this month. As I mentioned in the previous post, I think this could be an excellent service for educators who need student email addresses to enable students to sign up for web services, while at the same time having to ensure their students' privacy.

otherinbox - solution for student accounts

otherinbox.com is a new, still in beta service, which enables the user to create unlimited email addresses on the fly, based on his account it could be very useful for teachers needing to set up "fake" student email addresses to enable students to sign up to webservices.
The gmail+ system used by many educators is useful but not all web services support sign up from email addresses which incorporate a plus sign. Of course it is possible to sign up to many websites with a completely bogus mail address but that puts the dampers on retrieving passwords etc in the event that students forget them.

With otherinbox.com user (in our case, teacher) gets a mail subdomain which catches all mail sent to it. So if the subdomain is: itteacher.otherinbox.com mail sent to susan@itteacher.otherinbox.com and mail sent to jostudent@itteacher.otherinbox.com are both caught by the mailbox and automatically placed in the respective folder, ie the jostudent folder and the susan folder. This enables the teacher to see at a glance which alias has new mail, see screencapture. There is no need to set up the aliases ahead of time, they are created automatically when mail arrives in the inbox.

At present incoming mail can only be automatically forwarded to the account holders primary mail, however if it were possible to set up filters to forward to other mail accounts, I could see this as being an excellent service not only for enabling students to sign up for web services but also for moderating student mail.

Posted by email from susan's posterous

Post to Twitter and Blog from Posterous

Posting to twitter, blogger and posterous from 1 email message.
Posterous, "blog from your email". Posterous automatically, publishes
attachments in suitable format.
If you haven't tried posterous yet, it's definitely worth checking out!

Posted by email from susan's posterous

10 Great Tips From Gmail Blog

Official Gmail Blog: Gmail blog turns 1: Looking back at our 10 most read tips

Lots of useful tips in this post on Gmail blog. My personal favorite is number 7, which explains how to create on the fly email addresses using your 1 gmail account - useful for teachers wanting to create fake student accounts and also as an easy way of filtering incoming mail.

10) Have Gmail do your laundry - Suggest new features for Gmail.

9) Tips for importing old email to Gmail -

8) Edit contacts right from your chat list - Clean up your chat list and change contact information quickly

7) 2 Hidden ways to get more from your Gmail address - You can insert certain characters to your email address to get additional names out of it -- all of which still make it to your inbox.

6) How to find any email with Gmail search - How to use search operators so you can find any email the first time.

5) 5 little-known Gmail features you may not yet know about

4) Top 10 little known Gmail features From "custom from" to creating events in Gmail - and other key features

3) Getting Gmail anywhere: IMAP versus POP - How to get Gmail on mobile phones and destkop mail clients

2) 3 Gmail Labs features that will spice up your inbox Popular Gmail Labs features: Superstars, Pictures in chat and Quick Links.

1) 9 reasons to archive -

Natioanl Geographic Widget

Add the latest news, photos and more from National Geographic by way of widget.

MyStudiyo - Quiz Creator

At MyStudio.com you can create two kinds of quiz, "Promote it Quiz" with your questions, "User Can Add Quiz" your questons and users' questions, you moderate. Or embed an existing quiz in your blog or web page, as I did just below.

Publishing Google Forms to Blogger Blogs

1) In your blog settings click on the "Email" tab.
2) Fill in the empty field in "mail-to-blogger address" - use something you can remember
3) Check the "Publish emails immediately" radio button - then save settings
4) Go to http://spreadsheets.google.com/newform, sign in
5) Create your form
6) Click on "Save" and "Next, choose recipients"
7) Write the email address for your blog in the "Invite" field
8) Choose any other options that suit you and edit the "Custom Confirmation" text.
9) Click on "Invite People"
The form is automatically published in your blog, and replies collected in a google spreadsheet.










See the form in previous post!

EduTwits

 Just a small demo form         

If you cannot view this form properly, you can fill it out here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p7zH8U11Pv3_LPqs-Gw7_bg&email=true

Your Name

Where in the world are you?

Your Blog or Website

check for updates

powered by Google Docs

Terms of Service - Additional Terms

Google Form in Your Blog

 Apparently, if your blogger account is set up to accept your posts by mail, you can post a google form directly to your blog.  This is my first attempt - Please answer the questions - not only, in order that I can check if it actually works, but to help my students find out a little about school in other countries.  Thanks in advance.           

If you cannot view this form properly, you can fill it out here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p7zH8U11Pv38jj7yaY_0HTA&email=true

Where do you live?
Country only

How many days form a school week in your country?

What time does the school day commence?

What time does the school day finish?

How many lesson periods constitute a school day?

Please choose the correct answer

I'm a teacher I'm a student neither are correct for me

The school described above is

• an elementary school
• a middle/junior high school
• a high school

powered by Google Docs

Terms of Service - Additional Terms

Create a Newpaper from Your Students' Blogs

FeedJournal.com lets any blogger create one free PDF newspaper from their blog RSS. All you need to do is sign up with an email address, click on the "publisher" link, add the RSS feed for your blog and click on the "Generate Your Free Newspaper Now" button. The link to the pdf and a widget to embed in your blog will be sent to your email.
During the promotion period the free newspaper can include up to 20 pages.

Unfortunately the widget didn't work for my blog - however I uploaded the pdf to issuu.com and scribd.com in order to show 2 alternatives for embedding the newspaper.

In order to view the fullsize simply click on the widget below.

Read this doc on Scribd: efl20 blog as a newspaper

SortFix - A New Way To Search

http://www.sortfix.com/ "start dragging - stop typing". How many times are EFL students frustrated because they simply don't have the vocabulary to refine their websearches.

Sortfix may just be the search engine to solve the problem.

A basic search on SortFix returns a results page which includes 4 boxes or "baskets". The first basket contains "power words" and "power phrases" (relevant keywords and phrases) the second basket contains the original keyword. In order to refine the search all we need to do is drag relevant words or phrases from the first basket into the second basket. There is a 3rd basket entitled "Remove" any results containing words dragged into this basket will be excluded from the search results. The 4th basket the "dictionary" may be useful for more advanced EFL students, however the definitions are too difficult for elementary. Clicking on the "more options" link will allow you to add further functions to the search.

The SortFix help page includes explanations and videos which demonstrate the different functions.

Twitter - @teachable moments

from Langwitches blog…
Teachable Moment Twitter Account
Posted: January 19th, 2008, by Langwitches Following an idea that sprung out at me while I was writing my previous post, I have decided to create a Teachable Moment Shoutout account on Twitter.
The idea is as follows:
We are all looking to inspire and create teachable moments for our students. Many times these are impromptus, non-planned discussions and activities. Sometimes they pass as fast as they came, but will leave a long lasting impression on you and your students.
Our Twitter is relatively new for all of us and we are experimenting and experiencing what it dies for our own and for our students’ learning. Several ones of us have had a great experience with a twitter shoutout, followed by a Skype conversation, blog post and comments as well as direct “conversation” with 140 characters or less.
Tom Barrett’s GeoTweets: Inviting your network into the classroom
Chris Craft & Silvia Tolisano Arabic Mystery Writing
Please subscribe to Teachable Moment on Twitter if you are willing to commit yourself to be available, when your schedule permits, to help another teacher with a shoutout. Remember, that you might be someone’s partner from the other side of the world, which means it might not fall between your school hours, where you are with classes, paperwork or blocked access to twitter/skype. So don’t be shy and add yourself as a follower.
You can create an RSS to be alerted if anyone is writing a shoutout to “teachablemoment” by going to Tweetscan, searching for “teachablemoment” and then subscribing to the RSS feed.

MixBook - Collaborative Flip Books

Very slick flash application for creating collaborative flip books. Unfortunately not particularly userfriendly or intuitive. However I love the concept and the final product! See the flippable version here.

Personalized MultiMedia Music Magazine -idiomag

ideomag.com This has to be a great way to encourage advanced students to read. Not neccessary to sign up in order to create a magazine which includes music, photos, video and news articles, based on your preferred artists, but if you do sign up you can also keep archives and get a widget to embed in your blog or social network. Great fun!

Free Sponsored Yugma Premium for Bloggers

Just come through the twitter vine - via Langwitches.
Free Sponsored Yugma Premium accounts for bloggers.

"Yugma want to thank all bloggers and Yugma users for taking the time to find Yugma, use Yugma, and share Yugma with others."
Effective today, and running until January 31, 2008, they'll be donating sponsored Yugma Premium accounts to bloggers who ask. Each sponsored account will be good for 12 months! Request an account by sending an email to blogger[at]yugma.com. Include your email address and blog website address. (Limit one sponsored Yugma account per blog site.
"Bloggers! What can you do with your Yugma Premium account? Well, just about anything, really. Meet with others virtually to review software or web apps. Collaborate online with your teams. Help others remotely. The clock is ticking. Request your sponsored account today!

After you get your sponsored account, you should consider signing up to Yugma's Affiliate Program to earn extra money."

Yugma : Free Web Conferencing, Online Meetings, Web Collaboration Service, Free Desktop Sharing, video conferencing, remote control software, net meeting, mac conferencing: about :: Features via kwout

SpellingCity

http://www.spellingcity.com

This new site for spelling practice and games came from tbarrett via twitter.

After entering a list of words, students get a choice of activities which include spelling the words after listening to each one read aloud, both alone and in a sentence, word scramble and a hangman game.

SpellingCity.com - Home via kwout

This is the blurb for teachers from the site
"1. Tell your students about this site as the best way to practice for their tests.

2. Print out spelling games with your lists such as UnScramble & WordSearch.

3. Save your spelling lists on the site so they are ready for your students to practice with. To save your lists, you start by registering (which is totally free) above.

4. Put a link on your classroom's or school's website so this site is easily accessible to your students.

While SpellingCity is now up and running, it is far from finished. We have alot that we will add. For instance, we will provide printable and online learning games which work automatically with your spelling lists. In the meantime, here are some spelling and vocabulary learning games (which are not yet integrated). Bookmark us and come back soon... "