Thing #12!!!!

I decided to do the Alert first.  It was extremely easy.  After I read the tutorial, since I was already signed into my Gmail account, it took me directly to the Alert search page.  All I had to do was enter my search term, choose how often (once a day) and how many (only the best) and then click "create Alert."  There is also a manage Alert icon if you wish to change or delete anything.  To get to Alerts directly from your Gmail (to add or manage) I just clicked on the more icon at the top of the page and then selected "even more." This will give you an extensive list of google tools and Alert is on this page.  The second tool I used was google translate.  I had actually played with this a bit last semester when I took an art history class.  I would type in a piece of art or the name of an artist that I didn't know how to pronounce and then listen to the audio translation.  I think this is a really great tool!
The uses for both of these tools in the classroom are numerous.  I have already mentioned one, concerning my art history class, students could use it in any subject where pronouncing foreign people, places, or things would be helpful.  This is also a great way to help English language learners or any student attempting a foreign language.  You can't imagine how much I wished I had had this when I was in high school Spanish!  The Alert tool could be useful in many ways as well.  You could follow news stories in a political science class, or market info in an economics class.  Science students could keep up with the latest discoveries, or sports fans could keep track of how often their school team is mentioned in the local paper.  The applications are really only limited to the creativity of the teacher.

http://translate.google.com/#auto/fr/Happy%20Spring%20Break%20Everyone!!!