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.
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.
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 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.
Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.
You chose good standards and I hope that if you do try to implement blogging in a future foreign language class that you will refer back to the articles you read and other articles on blogging to find some more specific ideas.
ReplyDeleteI like the ideas that you choose authentic materials for your blog, because based on my past tutoring experience I think highly authentic language materials are of great importance to language learners, especially those L2 leaners. Through materials like this, they can learn the way of expressions which used by native speakers and thus avoid Chinglish or Singlish expressions to some extent.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I like about is using blog to build connection with students' parents, which is very novel and inspiring to me! I definitely want to try this in my future classroom as well.
Emily,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your ideas for the different uses of blogging, especially in the community section. Asking students to reflect on various lessons and activities will definitely provide instant feedback. It also seems like you truly value the opinions of your students and their parents which is so crucial in establishing rapport and communication. In terms of the cultural component of your blog, what types of videos and songs would you post? Would you focus on a common theme each week? Perhaps you could focus on one city/region for the week, sharing videos, songs and current events from that particular area? I know that Spanish/Hispanic culture changes so readily based on the country, and even the city!
Emily,
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you refer to the specific ACTFL standards and how you incorporate them all in different ways. The one way that I had not really thought of was how to incorporate culture. Using authentic materials, including through the sources you mentioned, sounds like an awesome way for students to understand the purpose of learning the language, understanding that what they are learning goes beyond the classroom.
Alisha