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The best teaching materials in the most practical format.

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  • Textbook Mode shortlist

    Here is the shortlist for the Textbook Mode competition. If you want to set any of these for your students, they can all be found in the Yacapaca Demonstrations area.

    • Modelling (for Year 8 ICT)
      Author: Jez Thompson at Alderman Peel High School
      The text and the questions are embedded in a Zoho spreadsheet. Note you have to give it a minute or so to load.
    • Sin Noticias de Gurb
      Author: Lesley Abbiss at Presdales School
      An extended comprehension (in Spanish) for this popular book.
    • Copyright and Sharing
      Author: John Dunthorne at Thomas Hepburn Community School
      Internet safety resource. If you have not seen the video on Question 2 before, it is worth a look just for that.
    • Inspirational Athletics
      Author: Chris Knott at Harbour School
      A first attempt at designing a cross-curricular scheme of work with a real-world learning objective that could be accessed in class or off-site. It has been designed with the needs of EBD boys in mind.
    • Europe (from A2 Economics)
      Author: Heidi Watkins at King Charles I School
      A series of thought-starters to introduce European notions of capitalism.
    • Au Café
      Author: Katharine Wright at Colonel Frank Seely School
      French vocabulary, grammar and consolidation around a theme of a restaurant.
    • Romeo and Juliet introduction
      Author: Mark Ricketts at St Luke’s CofE VA School
      This is an introductory lesson which will lead to the pupils embedding a photostory presentation simulating a 60 Second Shakespeare play. During this lesson they will produce Excel spreadsheets to capture each student’s 60 second estimate.

  • Who uses Yacapaca?

    According to Jose Picardo, it’s “los yacapaquistas“. Jose corrected my ‘yacapacistas’, saying “I would say “yacapaquistas” to keep the voiceless velar plosive sound (k)“.

    So now you know.

  • ‘Textbook mode’ authoring competition

    I am really pretty chuffed with new capabilities of Yacapaca free-text tasks, and I think you will be too. You really can create sophisticated interactive resources in minutes, with no training.

    To stimulate your creative juices, I’m offering a prize of an iPod shuffle for the best resource produced by the end of Feb. OK, so it’s only Shuffle, but that’s not the point. This one’s a Yacapaca shuffle and it comes with a great story about how you won it.

    Here is what to do to win the iPod:

    1. Watch the screencast to learn how to use Textbook Mode.
    2. Review the sample from the video: Maths G&T Extensions. By the way, I really did create that from scratch in 5 minutes; the video is completely uncut.
    3. Review my other demo, Geological features in the landscape.
    4. Create your resource. Incorporate images, embed videos or slideshows… let your imagination be your guide.
    5. Tell me about it, by emailing support@yacapaca.com before March 1st. Remember to tell me what colour iPod you want!

    The judging panel will be made up of experienced Yacapaca authors. Their criteria for selecting the winner will be that it best combines fun and teachability.

    I am only expecting a few entries for this competition, so you have an excellent chance of winning. I’m already looking forward to seeing your entry!

  • VLE integration, international content, new authoring tools…

    Last weekend we updated Yacapaca with four new features that I hope you will find useful. You will need a (free) Yacapaca login to follow the links

    • Better VLE integration
      You can now access permalinks from your Assignments List.
    • Content for different countries is now organised separately
      Use the Country Selector to choose your country, or to explore what is available elsewhere.
    • Search within a subject
      It is now much easier to find just the test, quiz or free-text task you were looking for.
    • New content authoring tool
      ‘Textbook Mode’ lets you produce some really sophisticated interactive resources, and it is very easy to use. Here is a simple demonstration: Geological features in the landscape. If you are a Yacapaca author, look forward to a competition announcement for the best resources using this feature.

  • How to give formative feedback

    I’m talking here particularly about feedback in multiple-choice quizzes.

    For correct responses, do…