Thing #12. Google. It's not just for searching anymore

It's huge. It has taken over the way we look for and at things in our lives. What will these people think of next?

     So today I had to chose a few Google applications that would be useful to me. We all use Google. I prefer Bing as a search engine, but I use Google chrome as my browser, and tend to default to all things Google.
     After previewing the options that I could use to blog about, the obvious first choice was Google calendar.  Everybody in my house is constantly asking where I will be on any given date on any given time. All they will need to do is look at my calendar and they will figure it out.

I could very easily print it, but I know better, it would get lost. Those tech savvy kids would prefer to have it accessible on their devices anyway. 

It would be pretty cool to have your entire syllabus  of due dates entered on a Google calendar. This tool would be a great addition to the classroom. At some point, at home or school,  most students do have access to the internet. If they don't, they probably know someone who does. We are so used to using online resources that we assume that everyone has access, so we have to be careful. We could, however, start each day by displaying the month's calendar, so that students are aware of upcoming events. I do believe that I would use Google calendar and share it with my students. I think it would be useful.

     The other Google application that I like to play with is Google Translate. I love looking at written languages and listening to them. Bir neçə dildə fikirlərimi tərcümə görmək üçün gözəl (It's amazing to see the translations of my ideas in several languages). यह टूल अंग्रेजी बोलते है नहीं कि एक छात्र के साथ सहायक हो सकता है, pronouced Yaha ṭūla aṅgrējī bōlatē hai nahīṁ ki ēka chātra kē sātha sahāyaka hō sakatā hai (This tool could be helpful with a student that does not speak  English). ఇది మీరు అనువాదం పదాల ఉచ్ఛారణ వినండి ఇక్కడ ఒక సాధనం ఉంది, such as,Idi mīru anuvādaṁ padāla ucchāraṇa vinaṇḍi ikkaḍa oka sādhanaṁ undi (It has a tool where you can listen to the pronunciation of the translated words, and spells them out in a way that we can attempt to read them when the alphabet is different). 

     Using Google translator can help us as teachers, and our students, as well, communicate with others who do not speak English. Our students could find a blog of a student in another country then use Google translator to understand what they are saying. They could then translate their thoughts into the foreign language and comment on the blogger's posts, making the world flatter.