Real beginners need mouse skills

There's a few people starting "Welcome to Computers" this week at Lalor, who need some help with learning how to use the mouse.

• The GFC has one tutorial that's quite good, teaching the basics of left-click, right-click, drag and drop. 
• Skilful Senior has a tutorial that speaks to you. (Careful, one page didn't work for me.)

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image credit: Michael Aulia: Razer Mamba Review Comfortable - Look and Feel - CC-BY

Listen to songs for fun and learning

There's a site called "Lyrics Training", where you can listen to songs in English, and do your own dictation while you listen. Try these songs for starters:

• It's Now or Never - Elvis Presley
• You've got a Friend - Celine Dion and friends
• Money, Money, Money - ABBA
• Better be Home Soon - Crowded House
• Diamonds - Rihanna
• Bonnie & Clyde - Rihanna (funny)
• Set Fire to the Rain - Adele (harder)
• Someone Like You - Adele (harder)

...and if you want more, you can search the site for songs you like. 

What do you think? Is this a good way to learn?
You can write a comment below and tell us what you think.

Computer skills involved:

• Navigate to a website, follow links
• Play a video
• Interact with an online game
• Listen through headphones

Language & literacy skills

• Listen to lyrics
• Write the words you hear
• Use your knowledge of grammar to guess missing words

How to Stay Safe Online

Here in the Social Media group, we've been talking about online safety. How can you stay safe?

What are the risks 

Damage to your computer

• Viruses

Identity Theft

• Someone could steal your bank details
• Someone could steal your password (email, facebook or other accounts)
• Someone gets your phone number, or a telemarketing company gets your details
• There’s someone on my facebook that I don’t know
• Someone hacking into your account and pretending to be you

Scams

• A company rang me and said that my computer was damaged, that they had to fix it over the phone; 
• Telstra ringing about something
• Emails from Nigeria, emails about an inheritance, 
• Tax department or Centrelink rings you on the phone to ask for money you owe them
• Other kinds of fraud 
• “Phishing” – they send you an email that links to an exact replica of the bank website and ask you to login
• Sending a bill with the wrong account number
• Fake charities 

Predatory behaviour

• Online bullying and abuse
• Privacy
• Google and Facebook have all your details, how can you be sure of your privacy? 

Nasty online discussion

• People can be very nasty in the comment section (eg Youtube, Online newspapers, Twitter)
• Sometimes you shouldn’t read the comments

Tips on staying safe

• When opening emails, check that the email address is valid and not a fake
• In Facebook, check your privacy settings to make sure that you manage what other people see about you
• For online discussion: on Facebook and twitter you can report abuse and hate speech 
• You can block people on most social media, you can report comments that are hateful or abusive 
• Read up on internet safety 

Useful links: 

The Australian government has a number of documents and websites which aim to help with internet safety, eg

• "Protecting yourself online", a 36 page pdf document
• e-safety for women
• "Scam watch" from the ACCC (Competition and Consumer Commission)
• The ACCC has a "Little Black Book" to protect you from scammers 
• Also, the GCF Learn Free site has a whole section on internet safety.. this is definitely worth following up if you're interested
• "How to stay safe online", again from the Australian government

Now try this: adjust your facebook privacy settings

• Log into facebook and find the settings 
• Adjust your Privacy, your Timeline and tagging 

Looking for free software alternatives?

Sometimes you need a piece of software, but the one you know is too expensive.

"Alternative To" is a great site that lists many alternative softwares.. programs that do the same thing but might be cheaper..

For example, if you're looking for a program that protects your children from internet nasties

• you might search for an alternative to Net Nanny
• Net Nanny itself is around $60 for 5 devices

A great site for watching documentaries, also TV online

Do you know any good sites for watching documentaries?

Films for Action has a list of their top 100 that you can watch for free.

Some television channels have a site where you can watch their shows later:

• Channel 2 ABC has one called iView - free, but the programs aren't there forever..
• SBS has one called "On Demand" - it's free but you have to sign up and log in.
• Channel 7 has one called 7 Plus with Yahoo
• Channel 10 has "TenPlay"

If you have a budget, you could look at paying for Netflix, or buying your videos through someone like Apple or Google Play.

Tell us your favourite TV-watching sites in the comments below.

Ways to learn touch typing

These days you can find many typing tutors online, eg:

• The Typing Cat
• Speed Typing Online
• Sense - Lang tutor
• Typing dot com
• Typing club

It's best to print out a copy of the QWERTY keyboard, and put this above your own keyboard, so you don't have to lift your fingers while typing. Here's a printable keyboard from Teachnet (via this referring page).

Breaking News English is good for your English skills

"Breaking News English" can be useful when you are learning English.

• Here's the front page.
• Or try the beginning level for starters.

Each story has activities to help you develop your reading skills. Choose one story and try some activities. 

Learn more about Windows at GCF Learn Free

GCF Learn Free is a great site for learning the basics about computers. They have sections on Microsoft Office, the Internet, working with photos and also social media.

Try this introduction to Windows for starters - what do you need to learn next?

Welcome to Computers

Hi Everyone Here are the notes from our sessions

Listening on the web

The challenge is to find some listening activity that is right for you.

Many people like Breaking News English. They have many stories you can read and listen to at the same time. They also have some interactive activities you can do on the screen. Try this one story about blue whales: [Link to story about blue whales here.]

Here are some other places that have listening activities:

• ManyThings hosts some "Naturally Spoken English" from ELLO - [Link here.]
• Breaking News English has a lot of stories that you can listen to while you read along. There are also some learning activities. [Link to site.]
• 5 minute English has a range of listening activities, but with a strong USA accent. [Link.]
• The British Council has a site they call "Listen and Watch". [Link.] [example: history tour]

Photo by Pete Zarria (creative commons at flickr).

All about the weather

• How many words can you think of about the weather?
• What's your favourite kind of weather and why?

Try this quiz from the BBC about weather.

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Photo by pingnews (creative commons at flickr).

Play some learning games

Being playful can help your learning. Games help you to have a playful mind. Try some of these games, and tell us what you think, in the comments.

• BBC has a good game to test your senses: the Senses Challenge.
• ..and the BBC also has a good game called "Wordmaster" that lets you guess the right word. 
• To practise your Yes / No questions, try the game "20 Questions", where the computer tries to guess what you are thinking.
• Try this listening game about the weather: match the picture with the sound.

Have you found any good games for learning English? You can paste a link in the comments below. 

Fun with photos at Photofunia

Visit Photofunia for some fun with photos.

Work with vocabulary at Learning Chocolate

Listening at "Many Things dot org"

You can practise listening and pronunciation at ManyThings.org Try this activity for starters - link below. 


There are other activities on the site as well, writing and grammar. Can you find any other activities that are good for you? Try this link for the front page at Many Things.