EDIA Papyrus - A Tool for Materials Writers and Publishers

As a materials writer, editor and publisher, I’m constantly looking for tools that will save time, increase quality, and make my life easier. One of the best of these I’ve found recently is EDIA Papyrus.

How it works
EDIA Papyrus is a very simple to use tool that analyses the level of any text I write against a target level and shows me how close to my target level the text is.

More than that, it can show me which words will be difficult for the level and if I click on the words it will offer me some substitute words and show me what level those words are.

The tool is based around analysing text in relation to the CEFR, so it’s great for TESOL and TEFL teachers who want to create their own materials and professional materials writers, but it can also cross reference to a range of other measures, so almost anyone who writes educational text should find this useful.

It is possible to write directly into the EDIA Papyrus interface, but I tend to copy paste between my own documents and EDIA Papyrus as at present there is no way for free users to save their documents there.

Pricing
EDIA Papyrus is a free tool for any individual teacher, but there is an API for any publisher or content production company. This is really useful if you use a number of writers and you want to help support them and standardise the level of their content across a product.

The API can plug into a number of different tools such as MS Word or Google Docs and this enables writers to check the level and change vocabulary and sentence length as they type rather than having to go to the EDIA Papyrus site to do it.

The API is based around a per-text costing and if you are interested in finding out more about the API it’s best to contact: walter [at] edia.nl

I have to say, I’m becoming a regular user these days, as it is a quick way to check the level of a complete text and get a really good understanding of how I need to change it.

I hope you find it useful too.

You can find links to many more tools like this and activities for the digital classroom in my ebooks at: https://payhip.com/peacheypublications

To sign up for my free newsletter and get a free copy of Digital Tools for Teachers go to: http://eepurl.com/dtgL79

Check Out My Books:

• Hacking Creativity
• 10 Short Image Lessons
• 10 Lessons in Digital Literacy
• Digital Video
• Thinking Critically through Digital Media 

Best
Nik Peachey

Becoming a Technology Teacher Trainer

I’m really proud to announce the release of the second edition of my Digital Tools for Teachers ebook and also the Trainers’ Edition which should enable any teacher with a basic knowledge of technology to run teacher training and development courses and sessions for pre-service and in-service teachers.

The two ebooks are available for both iOS/ Apple devices as well as in a PDF version that can be used on any reader, smart phone or computer.


The Second Edition of Tools for Teachers contains a new chapter on games and gamification with X links to games and game type resources that you can use with your students to develop their language skills. In addition to this the other chapters have had some 30 additional tools added.

The teacher trainers’ edition includes all the extra materials mentioned above as well as 3 additional chapters to enable any teacher to use the book for teacher training and development purposes.

These chapters include tips and advice for trainers, more than 20 teacher training activities that exploit the resources in the book and a chapter on digital tools for trainers that can enable them to deliver paperless digital training sessions.

The Second Edition of Digital Tools for Teachers is available from

• iOS £3.49
• PDF £3.49

The Trainers’ Edition of Digital Tools for Teachers is available from

• iOS £4.99 
• PDF £4.99

I hope you find these books useful and they help you to develop your own teaching and the teaching of others as well as the learning potential of your students.

My Books:

• 20 Tech Enhanced Activities for the Language Classroom
• Digital Tools for Teachers
• Thinking Critically through Digital Media
• Exploiting Infographics
• 10 Lessons in Digital Literacy
• Digital Video – A Manual for Language Teachers 

 Best

Nik Peachey

Creativity, Global Issues and the English Language Classroom

It’s been gratifying over the last few months to see an increase in interest in the role of creativity in learning and particularly language learning, so I thought I’d share some of the work I’ve been doing with Alan Maley on behalf of the British Council and hope to encourage a few more teachers to get involved with the C Group.

I was really glad to see the culmination of over a years’ work come to fruition with the publication of Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom. This is book is now available as a free download from the British Council site.

The book focuses on the development of a deeper understanding of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 and explores creative ways teachers can raise awareness of and promote these goals among our students.  This is a book I co-edited with Alan and also wrote a chapter for and which I presented in a live webinar on October 5th for Teachers’ Day.

Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom from Nik Peachey

The book was a follow on from our earlier volume Creativity in the English language classroom - also published for free by the British Council back in 2015.

This is where the C Group comes in as the first book would probably never have existed if it hadn’t been for the work of Alan Maley in bringing together a group of teachers and authors all of whom shared a similar concern regarding an increasing orientation in teaching towards tests and certificates.

The C Group first met in Harrogate in 2014 and it was out of that first meeting and with the support of the membership that we were able to put together a proposal for the book.

Since then the C Group has grown considerably so it’s something that I would like to encourage more teachers to get involved with.

If you are interested in finding out more about the C Group please visit their website or Facebook page.

If you have work related to creativity in ELT that you want to circulate through social media or what to track what others are sharing please use the hanshtag  #cre8

I hope you enjoy these books and they help to spark your own creativity.

My eBooks:

• 20 Tech Enhanced Activities for the Language Classroom
• Digital Tools for Teachers
• Thinking Critically through Digital Media
• Exploiting Infographics
• 10 Lessons in Digital Literacy
• Digital Video – A Manual for Language Teachers

Best
Nik Peachey

Exploiting Infographics for Digital Literacy and Critical Thinking

This is just a short post to anounce the publication of my new ebook 'Exploiting Infographics for Digital Literacy and Critical Thinking'.

Exploiting Infographics follows on from 10 Lessons in Digital Literacy, which is a collection of lesson plans based around infographics, and looks in more depth at the genre and how infographics can be used as both sources of information and as creative learning tasks for students.

The tasks that accompany the infographics are intended to encourage students to think more critically about the information they are exposed to and to question the sources of information they find whilst browsing the internet. Exploiting Infographics should help teachers to start creating their own tasks, activities and lesson plans for students and to integrate infographics in a way that will enhance students’ critical thinking, digital literacy, language and communication skills. Exploiting Infographics was conceived as part of The Digital Classrooms Series which started with the award winning Digital Video - A Manual for Language Teachers.

The series is intended to help teachers, teacher trainers, materials writers and course designers integrate digital technologies into their classroom practice in a pedagogically sound and impactful way. I hope you enjoy these books and find them useful. Related links:

• My Lesson Materials

Nik Peachey

10 Lesson Plans to Develop Digital Literacies

Over the last few months I have been working hard to develop a set of commercially available lesson materials. These lesson plans aren't specifically designed for English language learners, though they will be useful for students at higher levels who want stimulating skills based practice or for any teacher interested in developing a CLIL or content based approach to language learning.  They were designed to enable any teacher to develop students in a way that is more closely aligned to the kinds of skills they will need to function effectively and critically in the digital world.

...

I hope you enjoy these lessons and find them useful in developing your students into digitally literate citizens of the 21st century.

Related links:

• Creating illustrations and infographics for ELT tasks
• Exploiting Infographics for ELT
• Digital Video - A manual for language teachers
• Managing the digital classroom - Using a backchannel
• Managing the digital classroom - Getting students' attention
• 20 + Things you can do with QR codes in your school
• Brainstorming and polling with AnswerGarden

Best

Nik Peachey

Why ebooks should be cheaper and how to get my book for free

One of the great things about digital publishing is that it enables any individual to distribute their ebooks to an international audience without having to use a physical distribution network.

This should enable publishers to deliver digital versions of their books for a fraction of the cost as they don’t have to pay the expensive printing, shipping, storage, redistribution and reseller costs that are necessary to get their paper-based versions of books sold all over the world.


As an independent publisher I’ve been able to use digital distribution channels to enable me to sell my ebook way below the price of a physical version of the book and at times, such as International Teachers Day, I’ve been able to give away more than 2000 copies in 24 hours without incurring any cost.

My own ebook retails for around the price of a sandwich (Perhaps a little less if you go to Starbucks).

• Digital Video - A manual for language teachers - on iTunes: 
• Digital Video - A manual for language teachers - PDF version:

One of the big downsides of digital distribution for teacher development books is still payment platforms. In many of the countries where teacher development books are most needed and where publishers could be using ebooks to deliver cut price products for teachers, access to international digital payment platforms is restricted due to either national legislation or lack of  hard currency. This often leaves teachers with no option but to turn to blackmarket sources and support digital piracy.

In an effort to counteract this I would like to make my ebook Digital Video - A manual for language teachers freely available to anyone without the means to pay for it who is willing to help me with a little research project.

If you would like to download a copy of my ebook and don’t have the means to pay for it please send an email to: nik.peachey (add the @ here) peacheypublications.com

• In the subject line please write - Digital technologies for teaching research
• In the body of the email please just tell me a about:
• your teaching context
• the country and type of school you teach in
• the biggest obstacles you face using technology
• how and why you use or want to use digital technologies to help your students.

I would like to use this information for research purposes and publish my findings, but all data will be anonymous and no name and contact details will be included.

Once I receive your email you will be sent a link so that you can download a PDF version of the  book completely free of charge.


Related links:

• You can also download a free copy of my previous ebook - Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers (2009) 
• The Digital Research Tools Wiki
•  Where do you build your PLN?
• Create Books for the IPad

Best

Nik Peachey

Video creation activities

Here are two of the 40+ activities from my book - Digital Video - A manual for language teachers.

The activities in the book are split into two main sections:

• Activities which encourage comprehension through viewing
• Activities which encourage students to produce language by creating video

These activities are from the second section.

Video Creation Activities - Digital Video by Nik Peachey

If you enjoy these and find them useful, please buy the book (£1.99 / $2.99 US) and find lots more like this.

The book is available for the iPad at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/digital-video/id1025275485
Or you can download a version that can be read on any device from Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/doc/276137280/Digital-Video-A-manual-for-language-teachers 

Related links:

• Using Scribd to monetise your writing work
• Lesson plans and activities for exploiting video
• Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers 

Best
Nik Peachey

Lesson plans and activities for exploiting video

Well after many months of hard work I'm really pleased to say that my iBook on exploiting digital video has finally been released.

There are now more than 40 step-by-step lesson plans as well as chapters on different approaches and paradigms for exploiting video, such as how to use video in blended learning, task based learning (TBL) or content and language integrated learning (CLIL).

Here you can download examples of some of the activities:

• Video comprehension activities
• Video creation activities

In addition to this, the book has a chapter full of useful web and mobile based apps and this includes video tutorials and tips and advice on how to use these apps with your students.

Here you can download and example:

• Video based apps

It's available here on Scribd

Digital Video - A manual for language teachers by Nik Peachey

And it's also available through the iBook Store for iPad and Mac users: Digital Video

The book has been something of a labour of love and has grown way beyond what I originally planned.

I hope you enjoy the book, find it useful.

Related links:

• Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers
• Creativity in the English language classroom

Best

Nik Peachey

Practical English Usage - The App!

Practical English Usage by Michael Swan was one of the first books I ever bought when I started learning to teach. It's one of the few that I still keep on my shelf and probably the one that I have most often consulted, especially in those early years as a classroom teacher when I was having to field constant grammar questions from my enthusiastic students - who I suspected knew much more about the rules of grammar than I did.

Now after more than 20 years, I'm delighted to say I have been asked to review the app version of the book.

The app itself couldn't be simpler to use. It opens to an index on the left with a search field at the top and entries appear on the right.  It's very simple to navigate and the entries are cross referenced with hyperlinks, so browsing the contents in a non-linear way is much easier than it would be in a paper-based book.

You can also add entries to your 'Favourites' so they are easy to come back to later and the app also tracks your browsing history, so if you get distracted by various hyperlinks to different entries you can easily find your way back.

If you have problems reading the small print as I do myself these days, you can go to 'Settings' and adjust the size of the font and background colour to one that suits you better

I know that a lot of paper book purists will object to this further step towards digitisation of more traditional content, but for me the advantages of having a reference book like this on my mobile rather than at home on my bookshelf far out weight the smell and the feel of the paper.

These for me are the main advantages

• I can have a the book with me as a reference where ever I am and even take it into the classroom with me.
• Using standard mobile features like AirPlay and a data projector I can project entries from the book onto the projector screen for my whole class to see and use it as a classroom tool.
• I can use features like text to speech to get the app to read examples to my students.
• I can grab quick screen shots and add these to my lesson plans or materials as reference.

For me Practical English Usage has always been my definitive grammar reference, so now to be able to have it on my phone and tablet where ever I go makes it so much more useful and accessible. I might even throw that hold dog-eared paper copy away- well maybe not.

The app is available for iOS, Android and Windows 8 and at £28.99 / $40.99 is slightly cheaper than the paper-based version.

As a teacher, building up your own essential teaching reference library represents quite an investment these days, so having it all on your mobile device where it's always available for just-in-time learning makes so much more sense.

Related links:

• Grammarly to check and improve your grammar
• Teaching Grammar Through Songs
• Crazy Comparatives & Superlative
• Create Image Books
• Using Word Clouds in EFL ESL

Best

Nik Peachey

Digital books for teacher development

Within the last few weeks I have launched my first attempt to raise the funding for a project to create the first in a series of digital e-books for teachers.

The project is called Digital Classrooms and the e-books will be aimed at helping teachers with both the technological and pedagogical aspects of exploiting new technologies. If the project is successful, the first of the e-books will focus on digital video and will be followed by others on developing digital literacies, using tablets and mobile devices inside and outside the classroom, developing speaking and listening skills with technology and a whole load more.

You can visit this link The Digital Classroom and watch the video below to find out more about the project.


If you think this project is of value, I’m hoping that you will help and support me in a number of ways.

How you can help

• You can share this link to the project http://igg.me/at/nikpeachey/x/4856585 with anyone you think might be interested in it.
• You can back the project by buying an advance copy of the book. (You should receive the actual e-book some time over the summer.) Click here for more information
• If you are really interested in the project and would like to be involved in producing it, then there are a number of ways you can get involved.
• You could write an activity or a review for the book. You would do this with my guidance and support and the piece would be published in the book with full credit to you. You can find out more here: Write an activity or review
• You could also help me by reviewing the finished book before it is published and sending me suggestions for improvements I could make before it is released. Again you would be credited in the book for your contribution to its development. You can find out more here: First look reviewer
• Finally, the simplest and easiest of ways, is to contribute your suggestions for what this first book should include. You can add your ideas for activities or recommend links to sites that should be included etc. on this interactive questionnaire.

If you are just interested in finding out how the project progresses, then you can get regular updates on the Digital Classrooms Facebook page. Just follow the link and click on 'Like'.

If you are interested in finding out how to create your own digital e-book and discovering some of the problems I come across and some of the resources I find to overcome these problems, then you can follow my digital magazine on Flipboard, where I’ll be sharing some of the ups and downs and insights into the project. Digital Classroom on Flipboard

I hope you find this project interesting, follow along and help me to make it a reality.

Related links:

• Publishing 3.0 - A new model for independent educational publishing 
• The Digital Classrooms on Indiegogo
• Digital Classrooms on Facebook
• Digital Classroom on Flipboard

Best

Nik Peachey