Wallwisher

What is it about?

Wallwisher is an amazing online noticeboard maker tool. Everyone can use this tool to leave a message, to write down his/her notes or to collect the useful information posted by others. You can "stick" as many messages or notes as you like and you can also invite your classmates or friends to post their notes on this Wallwisher. Users can even insert images, videos or audios on it. Users can embed this wall/ noticeboard in their blogs and then share it with others.

Why is the content good for language learning?

1.     Wallwisher is excellent for collaborative learning or group discussion because students may post their notes on it and collect others’ information from it.

2.     Students are provided a chance to share their ideas or experiences on Wallwisher. 

3.     Students may learn how to summarize the information they want to share with others.

4.     Students are encouraged to read the messages or notes post by other people.

5.     Students are encouraged to upload the pictures or their photos on the wall and it may develop their motivation of interacting with others.

How might you use it in a language teaching context?  

Activity1:Information-sharing

1. I would ask my students to work in group of six, and they have to build a Wallwisher together.

2. I would give them a topic and let them find related pictures, videos or articles. Then, they need to write a summary about the information or materials they find.

3. It is a good way to let students practice their writing skills. They can paste their notes on their Wallwisher as many as they want.

4. After finishing their group’s Wallwisher, I will let my students to make a brief presentation in class and share each group's Wallwisher to the whole class. 

5. Everyone would have a chance to see other groups’ online noticeboards and give some feedback to others.

Activity2: Story-telling

1. I would ask my students to work in group of 3, and they have to build a Wallwisher together.

2. I would provide each group a sentence and let them use the sentence as the beginning of their story.

3. Students need to make sentences for their story by using vocabulary or phrases they learn in class.

4. They can post their ideas in turns on their Wallwisher and make a special story.  

5.  After finishing their stories, I will let them to make a brief presentation in class and share each group's Wallwisher and have them tell their stories to the whole class.  

Limitations

1. There is a limitation of character numbers for each note (160 characters in maximum).  

2. It is not easy to find the information you want if there are too many notes posted on the wall.