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Hot Potatoes Review
Joanna Rodiki Petrides (PhD).
1. Hotpotatoes
2. Publishers: The University of Victoria http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/hotpot
Half Baked Software Half-Baked Software, Inc..
3. Platforms: Windows + Mackintosh.
4. Cost: It is not freeware but it is free for non profit organizations and educational institutions. Moreover, a ‘modified’ version of the program is available without a registration key. This ‘free version ‘ however allows only small units of activities to be created.
5. Target Audience: Mainly Language teachers - but can be used by other teachers as well.
6. Descriptionofsoftware. Hot Potatoes suite was designed to enable teachers to create interactive activities. It includes six different applications, therefore, six different types of activities can be created: (http://hotpot.uvic.ca/ - What is Hot Potatoes?):
Cloze tests (fill in the gaps)
Multiple choice quiz
Short answers
Mix – put in order
Match
Crosswords
Activities can offer clues and hints and feedback is always provided so that users can correct their work. Pictures and sounds can be added to make them attractive to the children. Likewise, links to other activities, texts, webpages can be added if necessary. Fonts, color, prompts and feedback can be modified so the creator of the activities can adjust them to his/her preferences, the age, the needs and interests of the pupils. Moreover, a clock can be added to each activity, so that pupils will have to complete the tasks within a certain amount of time. Finally, at the end of each activity pupils are provided with an overall grade – an indication of their performance at the specific tasks. Hot potatoes allow the teacher to indicate an e-mail address where scores are sent.
Hot potatoes uses HTML and Java Script. Users however do not need to know these languages in order to prepare web based activities. They can simply use the templates of the program and create their own activities quickly and easily. Support is offered to all users of the software. For those who use the free version support is offered via email at mholmes@uvic.ca or hotpot@uvic.ca,
7. Evaluation
It is easy to use and does not require advanced knowledge. A tutorial which provides examples and guidance is offered through the hot pot home page.. It offers teachers the opportunity to create their own variety of interactive activities, which may include pictures, sounds and other links and can offer help and feedback to the learners. These facts can promote learning: a pleasant atmosphere is created in the EFL (or any other ) classroom, children work on their own pace, they do not need much support by the teacher, and there is certainly a variety of activities which is a must for each classroom in order to satisfy all types of learners (learner styles (Cook, 1996, Kottler and Kottler 2002, Lightbown and Spada 1993) – multiple intelligences (Gardner 1983, 1993,2000). Children can be motivated and they can develop positive attitudes towards the language and the lesson.
Even though the software was created for the language classroom it can be used for a variety of subjects. Activities can be uploaded and be shared with teachers worldwide. However, they can be used without an internet connection as well – in case problems with the internet occur.
It has not been designed as a testing instrument and should not be used for this purpose as it gives clues and feedback to the pupils and does not provide a detailed description of the work of the learner
(http://llt.msu.edu/vol5num2/pdf/review3.pdf, :5).
It is certainly not the only program that can be used to create activities and it cannot be the “panacea” for all the problems that occur in the language classroom but we strongly recommend using it as we feel that it is certainly worth it.
8. References
(1993) Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice. New York: Basic.
(2000) Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York: Basic.
- Kottler, E., and Kottler, J.A. (2002) Children With Limited English, U.S.A: Corwin Press, Inc.
- Lightbown, P. and Spada, N. (1993) How Languages are Learned, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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