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.  3^rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Corbin Press.

Kilickaya, F., & Krajka, J. (2010). Teachers' Technology Use in Vocabulary Teaching. Online Submission. Retrieved from EbscoHost.

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&ltmpl=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

 

¡Hola! and welcome to my blog.  I plan to review technology tools that can help world language teachers.