Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Prezi - The Zooming Presentation
One of my favorite websites is Prezi (www.prezi.com). It is a site where you can make presentations
online. The presentations zoom and slide
from one idea to another. Unlike PowerPoint which is very linear, Prezi allows
the creator to place information, images, videos, files, shapes and graphics on
a canvas. From there, the creator can
either set a path for presentation or click and zoom anywhere on the
canvas.
Prezi has several different templates to choose
from depending on the type of presentation the creator needs to make. I prefer the blank canvas because it allows
me to put everything wherever I want it.
The creator can add images from Google Images, from photo files or from
Microsoft Word clipart. The creator can also choose the font, color and size of
all text and graphics.
I made a Prezi for my methods class that presented the
numbers zero thru twenty. I was even
able to imbed a YouTube video within the presentation. A Spanish teacher I know has used Prezi to
present grammatical information and has also made flashcards that include a
picture of the each vocabulary word with its Spanish version hidden inside the
picture. I have included links to some
of them at the bottom of the page.
I think Prezi is a great way to present or review
information and can also be used by students to create presentations about a
variety of topics. I have seen a few where students have used Prezi to build
and label all the parts of their “dream house / la casa de mis sueños" and others where they present information and images about themselves and their families, their likes and dislikes and even presentations about cultural information. They were
very expressive and creative.
One
drawback to Prezi is that all the sliding and zooming can make the viewer sick
to their stomach so it is best to keep the zooming and sliding to a minimum
when possible.
Some Prezis to check out:
Quizlet
www.quizlet.com was created by Andrew Sutherland when he was
18 years old as a way to study for his French class (Iozzio, 2008). From there
it was grown into a site that can help a learner review multiple languages, AP
subjects, nursing, exams, history, science, math, literature art, and even
professional careers such as nursing and and law (Quizlet, 2013).
It is an amazing website and app that can be used by
students to study their world language vocabulary. They can create their own online vocabulary
list which Quizlet then turns into flashcards, a mini-quiz, a timed race
against a friend or a matching game.
Quizlet makes learning vocabulary easy, fun and mobile. The app can be accessed from any wifi capable
device.
Here is an example of a flashcard:
For teachers, they can make vocabulary or verb conjugation lists, flashcards, etc. for their students and then share the link with them via email, a blog or wiki or just by telling them the title of the list on Quizlet. My cooperative teacher uses Quizlet has a review in class before a quiz. Students take out their devices or use one of the tablets or PCs in the room to review and play.
I think that when I am a teacher, I will use Quizlet with my students so they have a digitally-friendly way to review and learn their new words or verb tense.
References:
Iozzio, C. (2008). Technology Wonder Kids. PC Magazine Online. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2332904,00.asp
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Google Voice
As a Spanish teacher, I know I will have to do reading,
writing, speaking and listening assessments with my students. Managing the amount of paper work and time
spent in class these assessments will involve seems like a huge task. The one that concerns me most is speaking
assessments.
How do I listen to a student speak while keeping my other
students busy and quiet? How do I ensure the student who is doing his/her listening
assessment can complete the assessment without being self conscience about
other students listening in? How can I listen to the student speaking and instantly
judge a student’s ability/
I asked some Spanish teachers how they handle speaking
assessments. I got answers that include:
“I avoid them because they are almost impossible to do.” “I give the other students busy work while I
stand in the hall with each student while I pray that no one kills anyone else
in my classroom.” (Yikes!) and “I take the students to the computer lab and use
a program called Audacity. The kids wear
headphones with a microphone and record their speaking assessment. They then
save them to their Elockers and then I have to go into each of their lockers
and listen to them. It takes forever so
I don’t do it often.” And “I use Google Voice. It’s fast and easy.”
Google Voice caught my attention. I did a little research and found out the
Google Voice is a Google sponsored, free telephone number with a digital voicemail
component that can be recorded from any phone.
The teacher sets up an account.
Google Voice has telephone numbers available for every area code. The students call the number, follow a prompt
recorded by the teacher, leave their speaking assessment “message” and then
hang up. The teacher then logs on at his
or her convenience, listens to each student’s message and then grades it. The teacher can listen to it as many times as
he or she needs. The recordings can be deleted or saved. I think students will find it fun to use
their cell phones in class and teachers will find it handy to be able to have
the students do their speaking assessments at the same time or at home.
A world language teacher could do lot of types of speaking
assessments using Google Voice. He or
she could give the students a poem or paragraph to recite in order to practice
proper pronunciation. The teacher could
provide a picture and then ask students to react to it in the target language,
or give them a question to respond to. The possibilities are endless.
I suggested Google Voice to my cooperative teacher. He tried it and thought it was great!
To set up a Google Voice account, go to: https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=grandcentral&passive=1209600&continue=https://www.google.com/voice&followup=https://www.google.com/voice<mpl=open
Reference:
ESL and Foreign Language Resources (n.d.) Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/eslandforeignlanguage/tools/google-voice
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers can help
language learners and their teachers to organize ideas and information for a
writing or speaking assignment or to express comprehension of a reading or
listening exercise. Graphic organizers help to make learning more personalized
and learner centered (Yang, 2006). They help to scaffold information and
concepts for easier organization and comprehension. For example, if a student needed to write
about his or her family, a graphic organizer could help the student to record
information in an organized way that could then be used as a scaffold for
writing paragraphs describing different family members. They can be used to compare and contrast cultural concepts.
Microsoft Word and Google Docs have
several graphic organizers that could be used as a pre-writing or speaking tool
or as a way to organize notes when reading. An online site that I like to use
as a graphic organizer or mindmap is www.bubbl.us
. It has a free version is easy to use.
It starts with a parent bubble that can be filled with information and
sibling or child bubbles can be added as needed. It allows users to choose from
a variety of colors and bubbles can be moved around the screen to suite the
user.
Reference:
Chang, Y. (2006). Visual
Organizers as Scaffolds in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Online
Submission. Retrieved from EbscoHost.
Duolingo - A great site for learning language
A great website for language study is www.duolingo.com . Duolingo is a project
created by Carnegie Mellon University that helps a student to learn a new
language by asking him or her to help translate the world wide web (Duffy,
2012). The site’s users vote on the best translation and eventually those
translations can be published so more internet users can read them in their own
languages. The idea behind it is the more you translate the more of the
language you will learn.
Users can practice their Spanish, German, French,
Portuguese, Italian and English (for Spanish speakers) skills. The site exposes
users to interesting content and people and it may be the only language
learning site that uses crowd sourcing as a tool (Duffy, 2012). An added feature
is that the site is free. It is available for computers and has an app for
mobile devices.
Users start at the simplest levels of the target
language and then progress through levels of difficulty from there. There are
tutorials along the way that discuss vocabulary meaning and grammatical
concepts. Another feature that I like is
that there is a forum for discussion with other users for each translation
exercise. If a user has a question, he
or she can pose the question in the forum and other users will respond.
This site is great for learners at all levels because
it exposes them to categories of vocabulary and different grammatical concepts.
It makes a review for learners that need a little extra practice or it would be
great for supplemental practice over summer vacation or as a refresher at the
beginning of the school year.
Resource:
Duffy, J. (2012). Duolingo Review. PC Magazine Online. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402570,00.asp .
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Conjuguemos.com
The site contains all kinds of practice activities for world language learners. Here is a breakdown of the site's features:
Languages available: French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and Latin
Practice: Vocabulary by theme or by textbook chapters
Grammar from present tense regular verb all the way to imperative and subjunctive moods and everything in between.
Types of practice: Timed drills, memory, hangman
Resources: Online flashcards, fill-in-the-blank activities, verb charts and crossword puzzles that can also be printed.
School/Teacher/Student Accounts: teachers can set up user names and passwords for their students. They can assign different types of practice and Conjuguemos records the students’ results.
After reviewing this site, I found it to be very user-friendly, pleasing to the eye and fun to use. The layout is well organized and I think that students would find this site useful for building vocabulary and grammar recognition and for reviewing previously learned concepts.
As a teacher, I could use this site in several ways. I could print flashcards, worksheets and crosswords for my students to use. I could use the timed drills and flashcards with a Smartboard as a whole-class review exercises or I could take my students to the computer lab to use the site for practice or if I set up accounts for them, I could assign Conjuguemos practice as homework or as extra practice for students who need more help learning a concept.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Wikis
A very helpful Web 2.0 tool for
world language teachers who want to promote collaborative learning in their classrooms
is a wiki. A wiki, which comes from the Hawaiian
word “wiki-wiki” meaning “quick” is a space on the web where users can share
work, ideas, links, pictures, videos and other media and it is a collaborative site
where users can edit and share information in real time (Richardson, 2010). For instructional purposes, a wiki can be
used to gather, sort and share information and it can be used to collaboratively
write and create. In a world language class, a wiki can be used in many
different ways such as a data base for vocabulary (Kilickaya & Krajka,
2010), a space for students to work collaboratively, a repository of student
work or class information and resources. Two wiki sites that I found were www.wikispaces.com and www.pbworks.com . Each seems user friendly and
have a free version. Each is also
password protected so that only registered users can access a wiki. This would help a teacher ensure security for
student users.
I also found several world language
teachers that have wikis on the web. The
purpose of their wikis is to provide resources to other world language
teachers. Two that I particularly liked
can be found at http://sgallagherdecol.wikispaces.com/Wikis
and http://nhsspanishclasses.wikispaces.com/Teachers
. The first wiki is great for a teacher
who is just starting out with wikis because it provides links to multiple
examples of wikis used for different purposes. The second wiki is a great
resource for Spanish teachers because it provides categorized links to online
tools that can facilitate different aspects of Spanish instruction.
As a future teacher, I see wikis as
a great tool for organizing information and providing students with a online
space to work together in a safe way.
Reference:
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs,
wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Corbin
Press.
Kilickaya, F., & Krajka, J. (2010). Teachers' Technology Use in
Vocabulary Teaching. Online Submission. Retrieved from EbscoHost.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Blogs
A blog can be described as an online journal (Duffy &
Bruns, 2006). In a world language classroom,
a blog can connect students in meaningful ways in order to express ideas,
opinions or other information in the target language (Johnson, 2004).
Blogging in a second language can help students to develop
their writing skills and increase vocabulary usage. A world language teacher can assign students
a topic to write about in the target language or students can be allowed to
free write. An example blogging assignment could be:
In Spanish, compare two local
restaurants. Tell what kind of food each
place serves, which has better service and prices and something you think your
readers should try from each restaurant.
End by describing your favorite and least favorite dish from each place.
After your blog is posted, read
several of your classmates’ blogs and comment about if you agree or disagree
about their opinions and why.
If students in a
class must follow and react to each other’s blogs, it can help them to develop
interpersonal writing skills. Blogging
also meets the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
Communities Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the
school setting (ACTFL, 2013).
As safety and security of student information should be
paramount when using Web 2.0 tools with students, a teacher should ensure that
students use a nick name instead of a real name and that they should never give
out personal information.
There are several blogging platforms a teacher can use to
blog with students. Google’s Blogger is
an excellent and free blog site that is password protected. An account can be set up by following this
link: https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=blogger&passive=1209600&continue=http://www.blogger.com/home&followup=http://www.blogger.com/home<mpl=start#s01
References:
American
Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. (2013). National Standards for Foreign Language Instruction. Retrieved from
http://www.actfl.org/publications/all/national-standards-foreign-language-education
Duffy, P., & Bruns, A.
(2006). The use of blogs, wikis, and RSS in education: A conversation of
possibilities. Online Learning and Teaching Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
31–38. Retrieved from http://eprints.qut.edu.au/5398/1/5398.pdf
Johnson, A. (2004).
Creating a writing course utilizing class and student blogs. The Internet
TESL Journal, 10(8). Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Johnson-Blogs/
Introduction
La Campana y los volcanes de Colima, Mexico
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