Google Apps

 In this post I am going to talk about three Google apps, which were unfamiliar to me before.  I am also going to write about their usability and usefulness in the EFL/EFL classroom. But before describe these three apps, I would like to say that the more I get familiar with new technology, the more I realize how it makes out work easier and more comfortable in the classroom.

Firstly, I want to begin with Google maps. This was something new to me, and I am really very touched by it. Google maps are incredible.  They are very well designed, and the search capabilities are amazing. The astonishing thing is that teachers can use Google maps in the classroom for various subjects, like English language, geography, art, history, etc.  For example, in an English class, they can take virtual tours of countries where the language they are studying e is spoken. Additionally, Google maps are now editable and students can add or move their school, favorite park, to help users to find the most accurate information.  However, it has some disadvantages too. For example, information is not always accurate and some services are not available everywhere.

The second new app for me was Google calendaring.  It allows having multiple calendars.  Thus, we can schedule our social and academic life, create personal calendars, and share them with others. Furthermore, Google calendar has the ability to display events from all the calendars overlaid on the top of each other, to give us a single view into day, week, and month.  The next astonishing feature of Google calendar is that we can choose to make this event Private. In other words, only those people who are invited to this event can see the details of the event.  For other people the calendar will be as a “free business calendar”. In contrast, I would like to mention one weakness of this calendar. What I noticed is that it allows others to see or activities, and this is a big disadvantage for me.

The third great product, which was unknown to me, is Google sites.  It is like a combination of various tools and services into one.  Google sites promotes collaboration amongst people. The good example of this is Google sky.It is very easy to use, and there is no need to know any complicated wiki language. As other apps, this one also can be very effective in the classroom, as it promotes collaboration, and also makes the learning process very interesting.

To sum up, I will definitely sat that I like all the Google apps mentioned above.  I found them very appealing and fascinating.  From my point of view, the creators of this apps make our work easier as a learner and as a teacher.