Make an interactive whiteboard!
Well, if you haven't heard, you can use a Wiimote, the controller from a Nintendo Wii, as the heart of an interactive whiteboard. Yep, and it is AWESOME! A great way to motivate your students! The technology was developed by Johnny Chung Lee and introduced at a TED talk.
Basically, the Wiimote has a camera in the front that looks for infrared light. You can place the camera (Wiimote) so that it is facing a TV or projector screen and it looks for relative motion in that area. This motion can be in the form of an infrared light pen. The Wiimote communicates what it "sees" with the Wii through Bluetooth (which most new computers come with). The whole thing requires you to download some software which is free and takes less than a minute to set up.
Watch the video to see it in action!
Download the software from Smoothboard. The unregistered free version works great and this is what I recommend using. They have both a mac and PC version. See my blog post for more details on software and how to set it up!
Lesson Ideas
1. Create an interactive jeopardy game. Students get into groups and a different student comes up to the board each turn. The student who comes up to the wiiboard will need to answer a question or do some sort of activity with their group assisting them verbally. Add a time limit to make it more exciting! You can create categories such as pictionary (you will need to download the smoothboard demo or something similar to be able to do this), mix up, multiple choice etc.. Make sure you design it so that students get to click on words and move them around or circle answers etc. Make it as interactive as possible! NOTE: You can do this with a wireless mouse as well and it is still a fun lesson. Here is an example of one of my wiimote whiteboard lessons.
Making a jeopardy game in PowerPoint or Keynote can be a bit time consuming, so I recommend doing a search in google for one. There are a ton of free PowerPoint jeopardy games on the net and all you need to do is change the wording. Just google "ESL Jeopardy powerpoint template". Here is a Keynote and PowerPoint version you can use to make a basic jeopardy game. I created my own version to make full use of the wiimote using Keynote and converted it to a PowerPoint for those who do not use Keynote. The converted PPT version may not play the video or sound files and may have a few other problems. However, it will serve as a great template for making a wii jeopardy game. Find advanced and beginner-intermediate versions for both Keynote and PowerPoint below:
Beginner-intermediate template
Keynote Beginner-Intermediate Version
If you make a PowerPoint version, please upload it to the net and add a link here!
2. Practice prepositions and giving directions with Crayon Physics. You can download the demo for free or get the entire game for only 20 bucks here (I have used just the demo and it's enough). Organize the class into small teams and have a different member be the drawer for each round. Students in the group must describe in detail to the drawer how to capture the star. For lower levels, give the group the solution to the problem and have them give directions to the drawer to solve the problem in a given amount of time. The solution can be a written solution or a picture of the solution. Make sure you give students the vocabulary they need to give good directions. For example, circle, square, big, small, on, under, over, next to, left, etc. You can even create your own levels easily to cater the game to your students. This is a blast and I highly recommend it! Check out these videos to see how it works!
If you decide to make your own levels, and I highly recommend this, you should check out this page for all the tips and tricks.
3. Draw a Stickman is an awesome interactive adventure worth checking out. Learners simply draw a stickman and watch him come to life. Learners are then given simple instructions about what to draw or where to go in order to help the stickman complete his adventure. The stickman actually uses what you have drawn. You can also write your own message that shows at the end of the activity. Right now there are two episodes and an entire full length adventure is currently in the making! You can follow the same lesson format as the crayon physics lesson above. Note: You will need internet access to enjoy this game with your students; however, the website states that a PC and MAC version is on the way!
If you have any other ideas for how to use the wiimote whiteboard, please post them on my blog!
Enjoy!!
Renaud
