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TaskMagic2
Selected Reviews / Recent Quotes: |
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"I
introduced your software at my previous school and it was
the first thing on my list when I took up my new post! I
think it’s a great product and talk about it a lot
when I speak in schools." |
Paul
Howard, Head of MFL and author of the C'est Possible!
& ¡Es Posible! courses based on the Michel
Thomas method. |
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"TaskMagic
is probably my number one favourite resource. If I ever
had to build up a MFL dept from scratch, this would be first
on my order book." |
Recent
post on TES MFL Staffroom forum (by Petite Joueuse) |
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| "TaskMagic
is the best thing in MFL!" |
Diana
Kavanagh, St John the Baptist Language College, Surrey |
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Ofsted
inspection report (May 2009), where the focus was on the
use of ICT in Modern Foreign Languages, and where the teachers
"used almost exclusively TaskMagic files" in the
lessons observed: |
| "The
faculty's use of ICT to support language learning is outstanding."
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"In
all lessons observed, teachers used IWBs to present new
language and in almost all students used the boards interactively.
Students talk with enthusiasm about how this new technology
has helped them to enhance their learning of grammar and
to enjoy their learning through the challenging language
games played in class." |
"Lessons
with Year 8 and Year 12 groups were observed where students
worked confidently and independently through a menu of activities
in German to consolidate their learning. In both lessons,
expert teachers had authored the lesson content, and then
circulated during the lesson to ensure that students derived
maximum benefit from the activities." |
Bullers
Wood Language College, Chislehurst, Kent |
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"Thanks
so much for working so hard to make TaskMagic so fantastic." |
Maria
Hunt, Bullers Wood Language College, Chislehurst, Kent |
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| Scroll
down for lots more TaskMagic quotes and reviews... |
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| TaskMagic
at Recent Shows and Conferences... |
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TaskMagic2
was on Stand 28 at The Primary Languages Show 2009, the
UK's leading event for primary MFL, organised by CILT
and held this year at the ACC Liverpool.
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TaskMagic2
was on Stand 110 at The Languages Show 2008, Olympia,
London.
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TaskMagic
Reviews / Recommendations etc. |
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TaskMagic
is featured on the Quality Improvement Agency CPD website as
part of the mini-toolkit on using authoring tools in MFL. Click
here to read more. |
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TaskMagic
is a central feature of the video case study of the use of ICT
in MFL at the Crofton School. Click
here to see the case study. |
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TaskMagic
is listed on Quality Improvement Agency CPD website in its sections
on matching
exercises ; jumbled
text activities ; cloze
activities ; using
images as inspiration |
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TaskMagic
was featured in the Education Guardian Evaluate Supplement
in an article about using interactive whiteboards to enthuse
all pupils in MFL learning. Click here
to read the Guardian Evaluate article. |
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TaskMagic
is listed on the CILT website in its sections on Authoring
Software and use of the Interactive
Whiteboard |
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TaskMagic
is mentioned on the Languages ICT site in its section on developing
your own resources. |
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TaskMagic
was featured in the TES Teacher MFL Curriculum Special in a
review by Alison Thomas. Click here
to read the TES Teacher review. |
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TaskMagic
features in a report
(pdf) by Terry Cooper for ALL on resources for language teaching. |
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TaskMagic
is listed in 2 documents regarding the use of authoring tools
in MFL (both pdfs):
Focus
on authoring software / What
are authoring tools in MFL? |
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TaskMagic
was a central component of a training day arranged by the consejería
de educación of the Spanish Embassy in London for UK
teachers of Spanish. Click
here for more info (pdf). |
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TaskMagic
features in a BECTA / CILT document
(Word doc) on ICT entitlement in secondary MFL. |
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TaskMagic
is mentioned in 5 of the Languages ICT Action Research Projects
carried out by teachers in secondary schools in England. Click
here
to go to the Action Research pages of the Languages ICT website. |
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TaskMagic
gets a mention by John Bald in the Guardian's official preview
of BETT 2009, which recommends MFL resources to see at BETT.
Click
here to see the BETT preview. |
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TaskMagic
is listed on the Victoria (Australia) Department of Education
website in its section about using
interactive whiteboards. The image on the page shows a class
playing the TaskMagic football game. TaskMagic is also listed
on their page on using
games in education. |
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TaskMagic
is mentioned in the CILT Languages ICT guide on using multimedia
suites in MFL. Click
here to see the document. (pdf) |
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TaskMagic1
was featured in a Modern Languages ICT Special Resource Review
on Teachers' TV. This was first aired in November 2006. Click
here
to see the video on the Teachers' TV website. TaskMagic2 has
many more templates and additional features which were not
present in the version featured in the review. |
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TaskMagic
was mentioned in two separate articles in the Guardian e-valuate
publication on 18/10/05. One of the articles is about using
software
and games in the languages class, and the other is about
teaching languages
in Primary Schools. |
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TaskMagic
is mentioned in the CILT Languages ICT guide on key interactive
resources for using ICT effectively at KS4. Click
here to see the document. (pdf) |
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Click
here to read a review on the Teem website of the équipe
nouvelle avec TaskMagic package, which is basically a version
of TaskMagic1 with lots of ready-made content to match the équipe
nouvelle course book. TaskMagic2 offers far more templates and
features than TaskMagic1. |
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"At
the BETT Show, we liked the TaskMagic2 software, which enables
teachers and (more importantly in my view) children, to create
interactive word games." Click
here to read more. |
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TaskMagic
is featured in a CILT publication on using digital language
labs in MFL teaching. Click here
to see the publication in PDF format (requires acrobat reader). |
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TaskMagic
was recommended several times on the ICT Advice site - Ask
an Expert - MFL. We used to have links to the
recommendations on the ICT Advice site, but the site has been
decommissioned and the information can no longer be located:( |
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Description
/ review of TaskMagic by Berwick Secondary College, a LOTE
(Languages Other Than English) centre for language excellence
in Victoria, Australia. Click
here.
"Our
staff were first exposed to Task Magic while participating
in Professional Leave to the UK. Upon their return it was
one of the first things that we followed up, purchasing our
own copy. It was an instant hit in our classrooms from then
on."
"Task Magic is an incredibly powerful program because
it is so easy to use and creates visually impressive classroom
activities with very little effort on behalf of the teacher."
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The
Ashcombe School in Surrey is a Specialist Language College
which has published reviews of a wide range of software titles
used in their MFL department. Click here
to read their review of TaskMagic. The website
also contains links to many useful Web resources for MFL teachers. |
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TaskMagic
(then called TaskMaster) was featured in the TES Online BETT
Preview (02/01/04) and was listed as one of the TOP 3 products
to see at BETT for teachers of Modern Languages. (Unfortunately
the page is no longer available). |
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The
UK German Connection lists TaskMagic on its page
which lists a handful of commercial resources that MFL teachers
have found useful. |
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Write-up
by MFL teacher James Pearson on his Modern Languages blog. |
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Write-up
on the Software
Central website in Ireland on the use of TaskMagic across
the curriculum at Robertson National School, after initially
buying it to teach Irish. |
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TaskMagic
was selected by Danny Nicholson of the Whiteboard Blog as one
of the things that caught his eye at the BETT 2009 exhibition.
Danny talks about TaskMagic in his BETT round-up podcast for
TeachersConnecting. Click
here to go to the podcast page. |
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Lynn
Horn mentions the use of TaskMagic for teaching Gaelic in Scotland,
in a report for SCILT on Gaelic in the Scottish Curriculum.
(pdf)
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TaskMagic
is mentioned as part of Liverpool’s eLanguages Capital
of Culture 2008 project. |
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An
account
by Kevin Adams of Southern Cross Primary School in Victoria,
Australia, of the use of TaskMagic as the basis for a project
on independent study and self-paced learning. |
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TaskMagic
is discussed on Joe Dale's blog post on The
Effectiveness of Interactive Whiteboards on his blog on
Integrating ICT into the MFL Classroom:
"For TaskMagic, I find there are certain
games which work equally well as a whole class activity as in
a computer suite whereas others work better 1:1."
"For Multi-Match, I have one person up the front, being
the teacher, reading out the three possible answers with the
others having to answer from their seats by raising their hands."
"For True or False, I play a lively tune and tell pupils
they have to stand up when the picture and text matches and
sit down when they don't. This works very well and caters particularly
well for the kinaesthetic pupils."
"For Type, one person enters the text at the board and
the others write their answers on their mini whiteboards so
I can immediately see if anyone has made any spelling mistakes." |
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Glasgow
City council HMI report mentions TaskMagic as being “particularly
effective” in “generating different learning experiences
across the curriculum”. (pdf)
(Glasgow bought the TaskMagic software for all of its secondary
and primary schools.) |
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TaskMagic
is listed on the ICT4LT website
(Information and Communication Technology for Language Teachers)
in the following sections:
1.1 - Introduction to new technologies
1.3 - Using word-processing and presentation software in the
MFL classroom
1.4 - Introduction to CALL (Computer-assisted language learning)
2.1 - Integrating CALL into study programmes
2.5 - Introduction to CALL authoring programs
4.1 - Computer aided assessment |
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TaskMagic
is mentioned on a CPD PowerPoint
by Medway Council as an effective tool for engaging SEN students
across the curriculum. |
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TaskMagic
is listed in the ROUTES
section (Resources for Open University Teachers and Students)
of the OU website |
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TaskMagic
is a corporate
member of ALL. Look out for special offers in the ALL bulletins. |
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TaskMagic
Quotes |
The
following are genuine quotes from TaskMagic users or people who
have seen it in action.
Of course, don't take their word for it… try out the free
30-day trial of TaskMagic2 for yourself.
|
| "An
excellent product." |
| "TaskMagic
is the best thing in MFL!" |
| "A
wonderful product!" |
| "The
games are brilliant!" |
| "It
is a fantastic program to work with!" |
| "TaskMagic
is probably my number one favourite resource. If I ever had to build
up a MFL dept from scratch, this would be first on my order book." |
| "I
introduced your software at my previous school and it was the first
thing on my list when I took up my new post" |
| "The
variety of activities within TaskMagic is huge" |
| "I
have been so impressed by the resources available" |
| "TaskMagic
is brilliant for starters and plenaries with a whiteboard." |
| "TaskMagic
is FANTASTIC and there are masses of ready-made activities free from
the site." |
| "My
students really love TaskMagic" |
| "TaskMagic
is a versatile software package offering MFL learners a wide range
of word, sentence and text level practice activities" |
| "TaskMagic
is great and affordable..." |
| "Thanks
so much for working so hard to make TaskMagic so fantastic." |
| "TaskMagic
is a great tool for teachers" |
| "TaskMagic
provides a lot of exercises for your bucks plus easy to create worksheets." |
| "Particularly
popular was the new version of TaskMagic which the school has recently
bought having successfully used the original for the last few years." |
| "Very
good value for money." |
| "I
really enjoyed the variety of games." |
| "I
have used TaskMagic, which is excellent" |
| "Really
good for learning controlled coursework, and so quick too!" |
| "Generating
worksheets with TaskMagic is a great timesaver" |
| "We've
got it across the school - MFL bought it, but other depts are using
it too!" |
| "Some
Year 7 pupils I had last year spent their lunchtimes in the ICT club
playing TaskMagic vocab games and now know all the Year 8 vocab already!" |
| "I
have recently discovered TaskMagic, which has livened up my world
no end!" |
| "My
current favourite is TaskMagic" |
| "I
love TaskMagic for lesson starters - and the new version of TM has
even more than before!" |
| "I
am a big fan of TaskMagic!" |
| "I
think TaskMagic is a fantastic program, particularly for those who
want to develop their VLEs" |
| "The
template approach to creating your own interactive resources, as exemplified
by TaskMagic, does not require a lot of ICT know-how." |
| "If
you want to inject some life on minimum preparation, I can strongly
recommend TaskMagic" |
| "TaskMagic
is an excellent ICT resource. The kids love it and it's great for
motivating reluctant learners. The best thing is that it's not language
specific and it takes very little time to prepare. Great if you have
an IWB." |
| "TaskMagic
is fantastic. It didn't cost my department anything, because I persuaded
my school to buy it as it really can be used by all departments. The
SEN department uses it as much as MFL does." |
| "I'd
definitely recommend TaskMagic. It's a real winner with everyone." |
| "TaskMagic
is an incredibly powerful program because it is so easy to use and
creates visually impressive classroom activities with very little
effort on behalf of the teacher." |
| "I
have always been extremely impressed with TaskMagic" |
| "It
is extremely easy to learn how to create the files." |
| "I
think it’s a great product and talk about it a lot when I speak
in schools." |
| "We
are very impressed with the program and have already been using it
with great success. We are planning to link material for whole courses
to the program. |
| "I
think it is a brilliant piece of equipment!" |
| "Very
easy to create tasks quickly, just before a lesson – including
ease of inserting pictures and sound." |
| "Pupil
response: Excellent, from boys and girls. They love the challenge
and the feedback, and get very competitive." |
| "TaskMagic
is easy to use and very useful in language teaching. The interactivity
enables me to easily develop exercises for use with an electronic
whiteboard." |
| "Pupils
love playing the games, which test mouse control and speed of response
as well as understanding!" |
| "Tasks
are easy to create, making it a valuable teaching resource in our
MFL lessons in the computer room." |
| "Lots
of staff are keen to use TaskMagic and the only problem is students
expect to see it as a starter all the time!" |
| "TaskMagic
is going down very well indeed with students and I am using it very
frequently also on the interactive whiteboard." |
| "All
the teachers really love the program." |
| "We
have no hesitation in recommending TaskMagic. Its professional layout
and the variety of tasks on this excellent program are a fantastic
motivational tool in language learning." |
| "Thanks
for a highly motivating programme." |
| "An
extremely satisfied user." |
| "TaskMagic
is a reliable and extremely useful programme that everyone here loves
to use." |
| "The
only problem is keeping it from other subject teachers!" |
| "I
appreciate the personal service and regular updates." |
| "Thanks
for TaskMagic - it has certainly helped me keep pupils interested." |
| "I
am looking forward to demonstrating this to my PGCE students. I think
they will be very excited by it." |
| "Wow!
I'm really impressed with this!" |
| "TaskMagic
is fab!" |
| "My
primary colleagues are absolutely delighted" |
| "I
think it's brilliant, so versatile and easy to create fun activities
for all ages and abilities of students." |
| "At
my school languages teachers are very impressed with the software." |
| "I
am thrilled with your program." |
| "I
have heard great things about TaskMagic" |
| "As
far as I'm concerned, it's the best value for money I've ever had.
Just buy it - you won't regret it! Promise!" |
| "We
would not survive if we didn't have TaskMagic!" |
| "Since
receiving the CD yesterday, I have started to make my own German resources
and it is delightfully easy." |
| "Pupils
become very competitive to try and complete the exercise correctly
and in the quickest time." |
| "Using
a games package to teach Modern Foreign Languages has got the whole
class enthused." |
| "Works
for all years and abilities" |
| "I
use TaskMagic now and think it's wonderful" |
| "Splitting
texts up and putting them back together is good for AS." |
| "It
really gets them thinking about the structure of sentences." |
| "It’s
a way of turning something quite boring into something exciting." |
| "Even
as the school day draws to a close, volunteers clamour to come up
to the front." |
| "Well
done. A very impressive piece of software." |
| "I
have lots of departments now using TaskMagic - they think it's brilliant!!" |
| "TaskMagic
is being used extensively throughout the school - and I am receiving
lots of positive feedback - Thanks for creating a great resource!" |
| "Teams
- boys against girls - become fiercely competitive, desperate to better
a previous score." |
| "For
boys, this competitive element can be particularly appealing." |
| "A
great-value authoring package that works in any language." |
| "Another
time-saving tool that takes the sting out of lesson preparation." |
| "I
would like a trial CD of this software everybody is talking about
at the moment!!" |
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| If
you would like to give us your feedback on any aspect of TaskMagic,
let us know what you think by emailing
us. |
