For this professional development webinar, Richard Whiteside discussed the benefits of getting students to do digital projects as a way to build 21st century skills and global awareness. He also provided practical ideas and tips for doing digital projects with your class, using examples from Eyes Open and Uncover. Catch up with the recording below! 

Richard began by stating that digital projects can be very interesting to students, and a great way to get them motivated. The idea that the work they have produced will have an audience (be that via presenting the finished project, or putting it online) can add to that motivation.

So what are digital projects? 

Richard unpacked this to look at what is a ‘project’ in it’s own right. Respondents shared that group work, creating something, problem-solving, tasks, were all key definitions of what they believe a project is.

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In this week’s post, Abby Kaplan, author of Women Talk More than Men…And Other Myths about Language Explained, investigates the phenomenon of “Uptalk” and the myths and facts surrounding it. 

Young people these days, their intonation is really strange?  And all their sentences sound like questions? Which makes them sound like they’re not sure of anything?

Final rising pitch – popularly known as “uptalk” – is an intonation pattern that involves rising pitch at the end of a sentence. It has been documented throughout the English-speaking world: in the US, Australia, and New Zealand; it has also been documented among ELT students.

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