Chalkface Blog

The best teaching materials in the most practical format.

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Author: Ian Grove-Stephensen

  • It doesn't feel like Google any more

    It feels like the end of an era. Google has become so dominant in our lives, that you may need reminding that when it first appeared its spartan looks were quite shocking. Now, white backgrounds are almost de rigueur. Or they were until today! Look at this skin that just appeared on my Google Mail!…

  • Tricks-of-the-trade that boost student motivation

    I received a long and very thoughtful email yesterday from Calum Munro, who teaches IT in Melbourne, Australia. Calum said Yacapaca is not … a resource to ‘over use’ as the students have a low concentration/interest span and if they use a quiz a lot (even with the shuffling that the program does) they just…

  • Data Protection Issues

    Over on the TES R.E. Forum, user fpno asked Are there any data protection issues with inserting the names of our students into [Yacapaca]? It’s a question that (quite rightly) comes up regularly, so I thought it worthwhile to reflect here the answer I gave in the forum: Under the Data Protection Act, you have…

  • Spanish resources revisited

    A conversation with established Yacapaca author Nick Verney reminded me that about 16 months ago I overviewed the very nascent state of Spanish language resources. There were seven groups, of which five were public. None had really got off the starting blocks. Here is what they looked like: I predicted a shakeout and offered tips…

  • New Guy Fawkes resources

    Inspired by this video and its associated commentary, I have updated our Guy Fawkes resources. Take a look, and let me know what you think.