Thing 12: My, what many abilities you have, Google!

For this exercise, I chose to explore Google Calendar and Translate. Google Calendar can  link to my IPhone calendar app, which is very convenient for our busy family. I can also share it with my husband. Now he can never say he didn't know about an appointment or activity! You can also create many separate calendars. As a teacher, I could create one for my classroom with due dates and upcoming activities. I could share it with students and parents both in printed form or on the class blog.

Google Translate is a really interesting tool. I put in a few phrases that I knew in both Spanish and French. The written and audio translations were both correct. This could be a great tool for a teacher of ELL and ESL students.My daughter's kindergarten class recently welcomed two student's with hearing impairments. Her teacher has been teaching the students the alphabet and key phrases in sign language to help foster better communication between students. Google Translate could do the same for student's who speak a primarily different language than their peers and their teachers.Teachers could learn and teach their students key phrases to better communicate with their classmates. This would make for a warm welcome for students and create a more inviting atmosphere.




https://www.google.com/calendar/render?tab=yc

http://translate.google.com/#en/es/Welcome%20Back%20Students