Make the most of the technology!

Hello my dear subscribers!
I hope that you all woke up to a shiny day either, as well as I did today. 

   Today, I guarantee you that this blog will going to be quite long, yet quite descriptive and helpful; especially for those who have kids or those who teaches/will be teaching kids. So, I suggest you to go and get yourself a cup of coffee, maybe some snacks, and then take your seats.

   I'll be talking about a website and while I'm doing this, I'll share so many pictures from the website so that you can have a more clear idea about the website and its content, or whether it'll be helpful for you or not.

   While I was surfing on the internet, I've found this website called "Highlights Kids". I have taught English to  a 11 years old kid for a year and I should say that I used have so many biases against teaching young learners. I thought that I'll never be able to deal with kids and their noise. Especially I was very anxious about the fact that I'll never be able to use any of my higher knowledge as I'm teaching a kid. However, I've realized that there is nothing challenging but also full of joy and fun than teaching a young learner. You need to come up with so many different ideas or activities/tasks. You need to be someone who is fun, affectionate, creative, energetic, tolerant but at the same time disiplined. So, this's why I would like to talk about this website for kids. I hope that this blog and the website can help you to find/create/use different ideas/activities/tasks for your own young learners or I also hope that this blog can change the perspective of those that are thinking as the way I used to think.

   As it's going to be a very long blog, I''ll start directly from now on with the website, its content, its creators, its audience and with the other information about it. 

First of all, the most important thing is who is/are the author(s)?  Are they qualified in the area of teaching English?

   This website has two different versions, one of them is solely for kids and the other is for parents. When you switch to the parents' version (I'll show you how), you'll see that, at the end of the page, there are buttons for you to click to find out more about the website, its creators, its mission and FAQs. 

   This website is runned by a company which publishes educational products. They also have additional company contacts. You can find the CEO's and the other employees' biographies there.  When you check the editor's bio, you'll see that she has worked for planning educational materials for kids for a life time (and still working). She has so many references and experience in the area. Also she is a mother, I think this is quite important, as she needs to be someone who understands how is it like to deal with kids and what are their interests.


Let's again talk a bit about who are the intended audience and what is the purpose of the website. 

   Their main intended audience is kids, but they also create content for parents to help to have an ideas about different home activities that they can do with their children. Moreover, they sell products/materials for kids in the parents' site. 

   Their purpose is to help young learners to engage with the English language more, especially by using daily activities. They not only teach them English, but they also teach them how to cook or graden as well. 

Now, let me show you the content. I'll use pictures as many as possible, but you can find the link at the end of the blog, you can click on it and discover the page on your own as well. 

I'll start with kids' page. 

   This is the home page of the website. You can switch to the parents' page from the left side of the website.  Here you see, there are many options for kids to practice English. They can play educational games, listen or create their own podcasts, read stories, learn new information about life, school, animals, science (explore section), they can share their expectations or ideas about the content, they can learn how to cook or garden (activities section), and they can read some jokes or find comics. 

I'll show some examples from each section. 

   When you click on "activities" section, you'll see that there are simple and delicious recipes for kids. Ingridients are easy to find, instructions are simple to do but it still suggests to get help from their parents. It's also a great way to help parents engage more with their children and teach them their tricks. 

As an example;

 When you click on "explore" section, you can find so many information. The language and the way they narrate is quite appropriate for kids' level of understanding.

As an example;

   Another section is for "games". There are so many educational games which help children to practice what they've learned, especially the vocabulary.

As an example;

   You know how much kids like funny stuffs. There is a "jokes" section for that. There are not only jokes but also some quizes like "which dog would you be?". You choose answers that are appropriate for you and after several question, they tell you what are you and what will you be.

As an example;

   My favorite section is "podcasts". Why? Because the technology is getting increasingly involved with the education day by day. As a teacher of kids of the technology era, we should serve accordingly to their needs. It's an accepted fact that each learner is unique and also our brains are changing in terms of our environment. We should keep up with this change. What makes this section even more special is the fact that kids create their own podcasts and share their comments on the podcasts that are shared by the website.

As an example;

I would like to talk a bit about the parents' page. 

   When you switch to the parents' page, the colors will be changed and the desing will look more simple and minimalist. Moreover, the sections will be "magazines, clubs, apps, classroom, shop".

  Here is an example from the home page for the parents. There are some ideas for parents to let them be more engaged in the learning process of their own kids. There are lots of activities for parents and kids to complete as a pair.

   Parents can also shop for their kids. They can find educational magazines, puzzles, games designed specially for kids and educational purposes. If you don't want to purchase anything, you can also download some free content such as educational puzzles.

Let's talk about other isssues, such as whether the website is updated, whether there are broken links or not. 

  I would like to show you a picture that is taken from the bottom side of the parents' page which shows that the website is updated and still in use. You can see the date.

    Frankly, I checked the website in a very detailed way and didn't see any broken links. I controlled the language and again, didn't see any kind of mistake. I can say that the editor knows what she is doing and quite good at it. If I wouldn't trust the fact that this website is beneficial, easy to access, free and trustworthy, I wouldn't be writing this blog about this website. Besides, I showed you so many pictures so that you we can see together that this website offers a lot of different and educational content for the kids and definetely good at organizing the pages and using the colors. I find the kids' page appealing and fun. I believe from the heart that kids will think the same.

How can we use this website or other websites while teaching in a classroom?

   First of all, pleasssseee don't hesistate to use the projectors. Nearly all of us have projectors in our classrooms. If necessary bring your own computer and portable projector but pleeassee use the technology.  Even more importantly, LET YOUR STUDENTS USE THE TECHNOLOGY. It is a fact that even a nine years old student have a technological device. They even know how to use the technology better than us. What we should do is to guide them to use the beneficial materials. They want games... So give them games... They want to hear songs... Make them hear songs... Trust me, they will become more successful learners. This websites and other websites can provide you with many activities, games and songs. You may not be creative enough, that's okay. Then use what they create for you to use in your classroom, or educate yourself, prepare yourself and increase your creativity. One day, even YOU can create your own educational page for any kind of intended audience. For now, make the most of it.

Thank you for reading. I know it took a lot of time, but I believe;

 the time that was spent here will be the time that will make things valuable and educational in the future.

I wish you the greatest and most productive day ever! Stay physically and mentally strong!
p.s.: All lives worth to live to the fullest! 

Click here for the website. 
All pictures are taken from the website.