On improving writing in English

part of my work these days deals with thinking how we can allow students to improve their writing with the help of technologies. and a latest digest from the smashingmag presents “50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills“. the article covers the following area:

  1. Grammar, Punctuation & Co.
  2. Common mistakes and problems
  3. General Writing Skills
  4. Practical Guides To Better Writing Skills
  5. Copywriting Blogs
  6. (Online) Tools
  7. Further Resources

get full details here.

Windows 7 – pricing, releasing date, trial

windows 7 is micro$oft’s next release of operating system set to replace vista. according to bbc news, windows 7 is set to be released on Oct 22, 2009, and in UK, it’ll cost £79.99 for an upgrade version.
if you would like try it for free, grab the release candidate by end July 09. it’s recommended NOT to install on a system that you’re using currently using for work/play/study. i’ve tried installing it on a kohjinsha sh, and it’s running OK, except the cpu is not fast enough so you’ll need some patience for things to load. but it’s installable, runable and usable, quite surprised (:
and btw, the worldwide upgrade option programme is due to begin only on 26 June, which means those pple who bought their computers some two weeks ago at pc show missed their free upgrade chance? hmm … …

50+ Web 2.0 Ways To Tell a Story

if you’re an EL/CL/ML/TL/any other language teacher and seeking ideas to “web2.0” your language classrooms, check out this resource put together by Alan Levine. the idea’s not too difficult:

  1. Outline a Story Idea
  2. Find Some Media
  3. Pick a Tool to Build Your Story

change the tool as often as you like and you can plan unlimited ways (use a different story prompt, coupled with different media, and when more and more tools’ made available) of getting students to tell/write stories the whole year round (:
if you need an example of how it can be done, take a look at Alan’s 50+ Ways to Tell the Dominoe Story.
enjoy (: