Van Basco Karaoke Player

Van Basco is another fantastic piece of free software that once you’re used to will become a part of your weekly teaching, particularly if you’re as bad a singer as me. Van Basco is basically a free karaoke machine which plays the music of a song and displays the words on the screen, which go red when they are to be sung. It is especially useful for those teachers who are not as confident teaching music and songs. There are thousands of songs available which can be searched for on the Van Basco Midi (songs) Search page. Bear in mind that not all songs have lyrics with them so try to find the ones that say “lyrics” after the song title.  The screenshot below shows “When I’m 64″ by the Beatles being played.  Songs are constantly being updated and they have a lot of modern songs that the kids love.

The Hat

The Hat is a really useful free piece of software that can be downloaded and used in any classroom. It is a very basic programme which performs a draw as if you had put a bunch of names into a hat and selected at random. The children find that it is the fairest and most fun way of picking people for jobs, presenting projects, getting free newspapers, etc. Not only can you draw out a name at a time but you can also draw out pairs of names. I have used this when doing projects in pairs and I’m sure I will find many more uses for it.

Another area where this comes in handy is for playing games like Bingo in Irish. For example we were doing the counties of Ireland last week and I quickly entered the names into the hat and picked the counties using the software. It plays a great drumroll before displaying each name and the children really enjoy it and they won’t complain about it being unfair.

Myst for Writing

Recently I have been using the computer game Myst III: Exile as part of my writing lessons.  Myst is an interactive computer game where you explore virtual worlds and try to solve puzzles in the process. The idea for using Myst in school comes from the award winning Tim Rylands and I can certainly attest to the success of his idea.  The scenery, or graphics, in the game are amazing and it is a fantastic visual experience for children. As you explore the virtual world children are encouraged to speak about the world they see, the sounds they hear and the feelings that are evoked. Children then use their experience to write on the events they encountered in the game. I have found the results amazing and cannot believe the quality of some of the writing that the children come out with. I am asked daily in the classroom “Are we doing Myst today teacher?” Even the so-called weaker children love Myst and actually enjoy the writing process that comes with it.

I purchased the 4 disc game from Ebay for a small price and it can be found on-line or in shops for between €10 – €20.

For those who are not computer game experts walk-throughs of the game are available on-line so that you can’t be caught out by the children.