PODcasting in the Classroom

For years now, I have been an avid user of the podcast, Learn French by Podcast. As a student and teacher of French, I have enjoyed using this site for practicing my own French and for integrating various podcasts into French lessons.

In the past, I have used podcasts from this site to teach students important grammar, vocabulary, or communication skills. Likewise, I have chosen a particular podcast to highlight the utility of this amazing site. With or without being a member (you can sign up for a free account), one can access lesson 159, an intermediate lesson, entitled, "Es-tu sur Twitter?", to mean, "Are you on Twitter?" This is a very practical lesson, introducing intermediate-level grammar and vocabulary for using the internet and for communicating with others.

In the high school classroom, I would present this podcast with a worksheet for students to follow along and fill in target grammar and vocabulary words that I previously chose to work on. This listening in particular focuses on question words, negations, and vocabulary words related to social media. The interlocuteurs speak several times, at times in English, and discuss this meaning of the phrases and words, which would be helpful for students to make meaning of the conversation.

As a follow up activity, I would ask students to use these new words and phrases in a group activity, and possibly in their own activity surrounding the idea of Twitter or social media.

Connecting Globally

What better way to experience a foreign language than to connect with a classroom in a foreign country? ePals is an online Global Community that allows you to do just that. Teachers and students have access to great resources, and to other teachers and students from around the world.

My favorite feature on this site is the "Find a Classroom" tab where you can search a global classroom by language, age, country/region, and any other specifications. While browsing this section, I noticed that many international teachers are looking for pen pals to email, write letters, or Skype with their students to help practice their target language.

I also found this site helpful because it offers teacher resources and a forum where teachers can share ideas and communicate.

This would be a fantastic resource for any foreign language or ESL classroom to get students practicing the TL and speaking or writing with students their own age in an authentic context!

Storytelling with Storybird

Looking for a great way for students to create, read and write narratives? Check out Storybird! This is an excellent site that allows students to choose from a variety of different drawings, create or read stories using the pictures that they choose, and then share their stories.

I love this web tool and I can see myself using it in the classroom because it encourages creativity and individuality, but also focuses on literacy skills- reading and writing. Students would be able to create a personalized story, designed around the picture that they choose, and then share their story with their classmates.

Check out my story about two French friends, Madeline and Sophie!


Madeline et Sophie Rattrapent

Awesome, Easy, Animoto!

After signing up for a free account at Animoto, a site for creating personal or business videos, I was able to very easily navigate through the site and create my very own video geared toward travel in Paris. I was surprised at just how easy and quick this was to use. First, after creating an account, you choose a theme for your presentation, then upload the photos that you want to include, followed by text and pre-selected music (or, you may choose to upload your own music).

Even though the videos only last for thirty seconds and their is a limit to the amount of content that can be uploaded, I feel that this type of digital storytelling would be extremely effective in the foreign language or ESL classroom. As a teacher, I could create photo stories with my own pictures from travels (as I did in this video of Paris), or any other type of video that is not readily available on the internet. And for classroom activities and projects, I think this would be engaging and fun for students to create their own videos to share with their classmates!


Copy of Faire un Sejour A Paris

Digital Storytelling: What is it and How can it be Used in the Classroom?

If you haven't already heard about digital storytelling, you need to check it out! In the article, “7 Things You Should Know About DigitalStory Telling,” it defines digital storytelling as “ The practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video to create a short movie typically with strong emotional content. Another site, Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling sates that “Digital storytelling at its most basic core is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories.” In addition, Daniel Meadows defined digital stories as “short, personal multimedia tales told from the heart.”

The benefits of using Digital Stories in the classroom appear to be limitless. “7 Things You Should Know About Digital Story Telling” highlights the effectiveness of using this technique in the classroom: “Digital stories can be instructional, persuasive, historical, or reflective… giving the storyteller enormous creative latitude.”  Through digital storytelling, students can experience critical and independent thinking, while expressing individuality and creativity. The article continues to explain that “Among the initiative’s stated goals are, for faculty, to facilitate various learning styles and connect to students’ interest in technology, and, for students, to develop evaluate and use online content and electronic tools as a means of personal expression.”

I believe that digital storytelling would be an effective way to integrate technology and instruction into any subject area. For example, in the foreign language classroom, this method of instruction holds endless academic potential. I would have my French students create digital stories around various subject matters, from travel to family, and ask them to narrate in French. This would serve as excellent language practice, while at the same time allowing students to be creative and have fun! 

Serious Games: Gardenscapes 2

Serious Gaming in the French Classroom:

In order to engage with the online gaming world and to see what benefits it would have for the FL classroom, I created an account with BigFish which allowed for a one hour free trial. This site also allowed me to change my language to French and access a bunch of games in French. I browsed for a game that would be applicable to a High School French classroom (i.e. easy grammar and vocabulary) with a purpose such as time management. I finally found a game that sparked my interest: Gardenscapes 2.  I fooled around on this game for the whole hour and found it very relevant to the French classroom.

Language Learning Objectives:

This game presents very advanced grammar and vocabulary so I would expect to use it in a level 3 class or above. By using this game in the French classroom, students will be able to:

• Read and respond to vocabulary pertaining to everyday household items, people, places, etc.
•   Read and respond to communicative French (imperatives,  interrogatives, etc)
•  Read and understand different forms of French grammar
• Read and understand different French language tenses

Role of Teacher:

I would use this computer game as a lesson on grammar, language tense, or vocabulary and scaffold my students along the way. I would not expect my students to understand ALL of the language that is presented in the game, but instead to use it as a language tool to learn new vocabulary and grammar. Because the game only presents written language, I would like to read the dialogue out loud to the students where it is possible and walk them through the directions to ensure that they are clear.  This would allow for students to receive language input in both written and spoken forms. After reading and explain the directions in French, I would pause so that the students could attempt the level.

Role of the Student:

The Students would be actively involved in this game by following the French prompts on the screen: They must match French vocabulary with the correct picture in order to receive tokens/money for the garden. This motivation alone will inspire them to reach the correct answers.

Assessing Student Progress:

One way to assess student progress is to walk around and check the computer monitors to ensure that the students are making the right choices. Also, to check that students are meeting the language objectives, I would informally assess their understanding of the language that is used in the game by either monitoring their progress when a prompt is given, or by verbally repeating the same question or statement to see if they are able to comprehend it. 

Benefits of Escape the Room Games in the FL/ESL Education

What is Gamificaion?

According to the article, “Things You Should Know About…Gamification,” gamification is the application of game elements in non-gaming situations, often to motivate or influence behavior.”

Why Use Games in Language Learning?

Author Stephen Franciosi of the article “A Comparison ofComputer Game and Language-Learning Task Design Using Flow Theory,” states that using games in the foreign language classroom can offer students concrete goals, meaningful feedback and varied skill and difficulty levels. Franciosi states the benefits of using computer games in the classroom, and how games provide students with clear goals: “Successful computer games tend to have concrete goals in the form of quantifiable scores, payoffs and/or accomplishments that express outcomes which are explicit and objective” (p16).  Next, Franciosi describes the meaningful and immediate feedback that is given through games: “In well-designed computer games, feedback is usually immediate and unambiguous, provided through the use of audio/visual cues such as timers, score boards, collapsing or exploding foes, spatial movement and the like (referred to collectively as "output" by Rollings & Adams (2003, p. 183))”(p. 17). Lastly, students can experience a balance between skill and difficulty level: “The intention of such architecture is, of course, to facilitate an environment where the level of difficulty increases gradually and concurrently with player skill level. Second, computer-mediated games are able to respond in real time based on player feedback, and so are ideal for supporting adaptive learning (Torrente, Moreno-Ger, & Fernandez-Manjon, 2008)” (p 18).

Using Gaming in the Classroom:

In order to engage with the online gaming world and to see what benefits it would have for the FL/ESL classroom, I attempted to play an escape the room game called The Great Kitchen Escape. This type of game challenges students to think critically and strategically, using English vocabulary to 'escape' the kitchen and exit into the next room.

I played this game for about a half hour and needed to use the 'walkthrough' tool in order to help me progress to the next level and finish the game. I believe that this game would yeild multiple benefits for beginner ESL students and even foreign language students, if the teacher is able and willing to translate the lesson, pre-teach vocabulary and scaffold.

Language Learning Objectives:

This game has the ability to present basic-advanced English/Foreign language grammar (depending on the dialogue of the teacher); however the vocabulary is very basic. Students would be able to: 

• Read and respond to vocabulary pertaining to everyday household items.
•   Read and respond to communicative English/FL (imperatives,  interrogatives, etc)
•  Read and understand different forms of French grammar
• Read and understand different French language tenses

Role of Teacher:

I would use this computer program as a lesson on basic vocabulary and grammar, and scaffold my students along the way. It would be used as a language tool to learn and practice new vocabulary and grammar. Because the game only presents written language, I would like to read the dialogue out loud to the students where it is possible and walk them through the directions to ensure that they are clear.  This would allow for students to receive language input in both written and spoken forms. After reading and explaining the directions in English/French, I would pause so that the students could attempt the level.

Role of the Student:

The Students would be actively involved in this game by following the language prompts on the screen: They must select the correct picture with the vocabulary word, and in turn they will be granted access into the next room. This motivation alone will inspire them to reach the correct answers.

Assessing Student Progress:

One way to assess student progress is to walk around and check the computer monitors to ensure that the students are making the right choices. Also, to check that students are meeting the language objectives, I would informally assess their understanding of the language that is used in the game by either monitoring their progress when a prompt is given, or by verbally repeating the same question or statement to see if they are able to comprehend it. 

Twitter for Classroom and Professional Development

Twitter is no longer a social networking site for following your favorite celebrity; instead you can communicate and share ideas with professional educators and students from all over the world, and even engage students in your own classroom!

Jeff Dunn describes all of the benefits of using Twitter in the classroom in his article, “The Ultimate Guide to Using Twitter in Education.” Dunn writes that students have the ability to communicate through a medium where they feel more comfortable to express themselves freely whereas in the classroom they may feel shy and afraid to speak up.  Dunn writes, “Dr. Monica Rankin of the University of Texas at Dallas was pleasantly surprised when her experiment with Twitter began pulling more students into discussion. ‘It’s been really exciting because, in classes like this, you’ll have three people who talk about the discussion material, and so to actually have 30 or 40 people at the same time talking about it is really interesting,’ said Megan Malone, Teaching Assistant to Dr. Monica Rankin’s United States history course

In a second article, “The Teacher’s Guide to Twitter,” by Edudemic, it shares ideas for connecting to Twitter in the classroom and ideas for professional development. In the classroom, teachers can communicate effectively with students and parents inside and outside of the classroom, students can work collaboratively with in the classroom on projects, and students can practice and learn a foreign language. “Using a service like twitterlearn or just practicing conversation skills with other Twitterers around the globe, students can practice a foreign language.”

Through personal experience with Twitter, it is important to network and communicate with the professionals in your field in order to make the most of the material and knowledge that is available.  The article says, “Follow some of the people you find interesting, exchange ideas and conversations with others using the #hashtag conversations you’re involved in, and when appropriate, take it to the next step: connect with them – either via other social media, email, or at a conference you’re both attending.” After following some educators in my field, I found that they shared links to other resources on sites like Scoop.it!, and I was able to grab additional classroom tools and teaching ideas. 

Twitter Chatting for Professional Development

Today, I finally joined the Twitter world, and I suddenly feel so much more connected! I never felt the desire to be a Twitter user, but once I realized, through this course module, that you could use Twitter for educational and professional purposes, I was all in.

After creating an account, I chose to join the language chat group, #langchat, a group that discusses foreign language. This group discusses everything from classroom teaching methods and techniques to study abroad and job opportunities. I am excited to be a part of this group each week and learn from the many members who seem to have great ideas and experiences.

Twitter would be an excellent networking opportunity as well as professional development opportunity because just about every organization is a Twitter user and you can communicate with them quickly and easily. I am currently following language and education groups like ACTFL, NYSAFLT, FL Teach Online, and Edutopia.  Twitter allows for effective networking, communication, and learning.

Teacher 2.0

I recently joined the social networking site for teachers, Teacher 2.0. This site is a community for educators who want to share their interests and passion for teaching and learning, and communicate with other teachers about lesson materials and curriculum ideas. This site offers 'ideas,' 'books and reading,' a 'forum,' 'group' and much more. It is a space where teachers can share their thoughts and ideas and grow as educators.

A Learner is Like a Chameleon

When I think of the typical 'learner' in today's 21st century, I think of someone who is able to adjust to the latest trends in society such as new technology, music, language use, education, media, etc. The way that humans have adapted to their surroundings over time reminds me of the chameleon and his ability to blend in, or fit in, with his environment.

The average learner today is rapidly and vastly connecting with people and information through organizations and databases through a process known as connectivism which is defined in the article "A Learning Theory for The Digital Age" by George Seimens: connectivism is "the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories.Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing." Through this process learners are networking and making decisions about what they want to learn, and as a result learning is meaningful and realistic.

George Seimens, on the video, The Changing Nature of Knowledge further explains the benefits connectivism. Seimens states, “The learners themselves, the connections they form with each other, the connections that they form with databases, with other sources of knowledge, is really the primary source of learning. So, in essence, the network becomes the learning; the network that the learners create.” In other words, we learn from the connections that we make with information and with others; we share knowledge and information. Seimens emphasizes, “Learning is really about the distribution of knowledge that occurs across an entire network.”

DIIGO vs. Scoop.it!

After signing up for two separate 'social bookmarking' or 'curating' sites, Scoop.it! and DIIGO, and then playing around with their various features, I was seriously blown away! I have always been that person the bookmarks EVERYTHING, and then when it comes time to reference a bookmark, I am either away from my computer or I've forgotten what I filed it under in the first place. Thankfully, these two sites will make life much easier for me!

So, to compare these two sites, I want to start with the basics. First, both sites were quick to create an account and easily navigable, although I prefer the layout of Scoop.it! because it is more eye catching that DIIGO.  Both sites walked me through the set-up process, step-by-step, so that I understood exactly how to post, save, and comment on articles.

Both Scoop,it! and DIIGO have some of the same features, however as far as unique or special features, the sites differ in their ability to preform certain tasks. For example, DIIGO allows the user to search for topics related to a certain subject area of interest and then pulls up related sites and articles from the web, and Scoop.it! requires the user to locate articles/websites on their own externally (on the web or search though different users or groups) and then save them to the user account library. Both sites allow users to create 'lists' or 'topics' that categorize the saved articles or websites, make comments and add multiple tags to the articles, and network with other users to share materials, ideas, and comments. On the other hand, DIIGO gives its users the opportunity to be more interactive with texts by annotating: adding sticky notes and highlighting. Scoop.it allows for communication with other users by commenting on the article or by sharing on social media networks.

I found that using both Scoop.it! and DIIGO has advantages and disadvantages for bookmarking or curating information from the web. As a teacher, or someone who comes across educational information often, I would use a site like DIIGO where I could easily click a button on my tool bar and save it to my account for later reading and use in the classroom. However, if I am searching for a certain topic, for example SmartBoard activities for the classroom, I would use Scoop.it! because it filters through these topics on the internet and other users' pages and pulls up any and all information related to my topic.

Social Media Takeover

Let's face it, we live in a time and age where technology and social media are more important than ever, and our students (and maybe us) would be lost without either one. While society has transformed drastically over the last 20 years, becoming tech savvy, the education world is slow to follow. It appears that the younger generations who are being brought up using social media and technology are much more aware of the implications of certain programs or applications, and they also seem to have an awareness for the events that are going on around them (thanks to sites like Twitter or YouTube). Yet, in the classroom, we still rely on textbooks and chalkboards all which seem a little 'old-school' in relation to what students are capable of doing.

After watching two short YouTube films, Social Media Revolution 2011 and The Shift in New Brunswick Public Education, I was both impressed and shocked by the amount of information that is out on the net and how many people are accessing it.

Social Media Revolution 2011 is a catchy film that puts into perspective all of the information that is out there on the internet. A few things made me go, "Wow!" For example, '1 in 5 people meet online', and 'if Facebook were a country, it'd be the 3rd largest country!'These facts tell me just how important the internet-social media in particular-is to people. It connects us; it is a medium for relationships; it is a source of information.

The second film, The Shift in New Brunswick Public Education, shows the importance of technology
and social media within the classroom. This video makes a strong connection between the way that the world has changed, particularly technology, and education. It makes a point that students, teacher and classrooms need to obtain 21st century skills. In other words, the classroom should evolve to match the world around it. I enjoyed this video and learning about the New Brunswick Public School System. I believe that this is how learning should be; students are hands-on, using technology, and acquiring skills that will prepare them for the 21st century. In the video, it displayed a quote that I think sums up the ideas of this post pretty nicely: "Education is about adapting to a changing world."

Blogs in the FL Classroom

According to Rita Zeinstejer, author of the article “Blogging in Language Learning,” blogs are a multimodal tool that teachers can integrate into daily instruction in order to make learning relevant, authentic, and fun. In the foreign language and ESL or EFL classrooms, blogs are a great source for exposing students to authentic culture and language, and they encourage creativity, individuality, and critical thinking.

I believe that by using blogs in the foreign language classroom, they would have many academic and personal benefits. I would create a blog for my FL students centered around the ACTFL standards and focus specifically on Communication and Culture:

 1.       Communication:  As Zeinsteger points out, blogs are a space that encourages collaboration and interaction between classmates. Students can read, write, listen and even create dialogue through a blog site. There is an instant form of communication created and even a sense of motivation because it is on the internet and students are familiar with this mode of communication. Through the blogsite, students can practice dialogue, reading and writing and receive instant feedback from peers and teachers. 

Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics.
Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

2.       Culture:  On my blog, I would post authentic French materials: videos, pictures, news, songs, articles, etc., so that students could engage and interact with the culture and language. The idea is that students will see, hear, and interact with the language and culture in a way that they otherwise could not in the classroom through a textbook. The internet is full of resources, and blogs are a perfect way to share this information with our students. 

      Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.

     Standard 2.2: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied.

3. Community: Blogs are a great way to involve parents and community members with the content of the classroom. I would post briefly what we are doing in each class: my lesson plan and unit plan objectives, what students are working on, and pictures of student work. I would ask students to post comments and reflect after each activity, lesson, or unit in order to give me feedback. Not only could teachers, students, and parents communicate more effectively and more often, but a blog would allow students and teachers to share classroom information such as events, activities and ideas. I would post as much classroom information to my blog as possible in hopes that my parents and students would be able to review the blog together at home and stay connected with the classroom events and activities.

Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting.
Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.