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.