Absolutely Connected

“So, how do you teach English to primary school students when you don’t have any English teachers?” Through technology, of course! In Uruguay, the British Council has set up distance English teaching that not only teaches the children but also teaches the local classroom teacher so that in 3 years’ time Uruguay will be able to deliver the English teaching 100% locally.”

Through the use of podcasts we can further propel our student’s language education. As Absolutely Intercultural showcases, podcasts are an awesome way of giving lesson even from a far distance. Podcasts are often used to listen to music, the most popular venue is iTunes but there are many resources available; especially for teachers.

In the podcast I listen to the broadcaster speaks to people from different countries. In Uruguay, she discusses the development of the project, called Plan Ceibal, has started and how it will be implemented in the next few years.

Next the broadcaster speaks to a remote teacher who comes from the Philippines and her experience with teacher English in Uruguay. She makes a point to say that she feels connected to her students while teaching them. Her students have made efforts to communicate with her outside of the online classroom which shows how eager they are to use the English they have developed and also makes the teacher more enthused to teach them. The children she taught even expressed their concern after the Typhoon that devastated the Philippines.  It becomes evident that students and teachers can connect when they both put the time and effort into learning.

There are over one hundred different podcast episodes that can be listened to that offer more information on teaching and learning through the use of podcasts. The podcasts also give information on which fundraising programs are helping make this source of education available to more and more children.

Be sure to check it out!

ePals!

ePals is yet another forum for teachers to use in their classrooms. It provides a creative way to connect learners to an active community.  It is a useful resource for both students and teachers.

There is even this cool page called eMentors for Common Core that helps develop strong reading, thinking and writing skills with the help if adult mentors, motivating curriculum and technology.  This is a main component of In2Books where students read books, discuss them in the classroom, and exchange online letter with other students. “Teachers provide genre instruction and teach reading, writing and thinking skills appropriate to the genre.” This all helps to promote a student’s interaction and eagerness to participate. This is all under the Common Core Standards but without the pressures of testing. This sort of activity exercises the higher thinking skills we want our students to use in order to analyze the materials we present to them. In2Books offers pen pals whom students can write to with any concerns or ideas they may have. These pen pals are all adults and professionals so their questions will be responded to by a knowledgeable person. The curriculum that students follow ensures that they read age appropriate books that are “high-quality books carefully selected by a team of children’s literature experts.”

This is a great resource for students of all ages. Especially since kids already know how to use computers, smartphones and tablets. This is a great resource for students who can’t make it to after school programs or don’t have access to a tutor to use. This is also a great way for parents to stay informed with what standards their children are being tested against and how they can help to best prepare them. 

Comics for ESL Instruction

I played around with making a comic strip as a teaching tool. I thought this would be an interesting way to show how idioms work. Often, I have seen role-playing as the primary tool to teach how idioms work. Usually, the teacher then has to explicitly explain what the idiom means because the students still didn't understand the meaning. I think this is because the students are more focused on the performers (fellow students) rather than the performance itself. Also, this practice can be uncomfortable for the students who are performing the role play in front of the other students. I think creating a fun comic strip like the one I created would be a less stressing situation for everyone. It also keeps the students interested. These comics can be worked into explaining many different scenarios between people therefore they can be used to explain many different exchanges between characters. It isn't as authentic as the actual role play but I think it would provide more positive washback. Finally, you can assign scenarios for the students to create in their own comics to show to the class. 

Idioms by Snoop & Bush

Digital Storytelling

As I reviewed in my last post, digital storytelling is an interesting way to get students involved in classroom participation as well as keeping them excited about learning. I tested out the waters and created my own little short story. I imagined that this would be used in a Spanish foreign language class. Essentially, I would have the students watch the video in class and then ask them as a class discussion what they think the video is about, what it says, and what inferences they can make from the context to learn new vocabulary. Below you can access the video I made with Animoto. FYI, I had an introduction to Spanish course in mind while I made this.

Aventuras de Slim/Slim's Adventures

As you can see the subtitles are all in Spanish. After the video is shown in class and discussed, I would have the students write their own simple sentences that model after what the video showed. To kick it up a notch I would have the students create their own 10 second video either during class as group projects or as a term project where they can show what they learned at the end of the class. This could also be incorporated as a "show and tell" activity on students favorite activity, hobbies, and interests. Incorporating digital storytelling can be modified for a multitude of of topics, it's fun and easy!

Lights, Cameras, Action! Digital Storytelling in ESL Classrooms

Digital storytelling is an effective way to get the creativity juices flowing in either an online classroom or a traditional one. This is because in the day and age we live in we are used to watching documentaries or docuseries, even if we don’t know it. Reality television has been the root of this, I think. Getting the opportunity to be in front of and behind the camera to make your own digital story is compelling. This is especially useful in a classroom where students don’t get to share their hobbies and interests face-to-face. In an ESL classroom this would be a great way to introduce students and their cultures to each other without having the uncomfortable feeling of speaking in front of a classroom of people. 

As Educase showcased the story of David and his love for blues guitar, this can be done on multiple topics. Many universities are now implementing digital storytelling into their curriculum. It can be possible that students entering your class will have already learned these skills but if not it provides a wonderful opportunity for them to learn it for the first time. “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 their ability to appropriately evaluate and use  online content and electronic tools as a means of personal expression.” This can be easily developed into an art form. Even more beneficial is its possible use in all content areas or even for group projects. 

If you're interested in incorporating digital storytelling into your class there are tons of information found at storycenter.org. They feature stories and also hold workshops where you can get more information. This would be a great foundation for any instructor to expand on. I would also provide this resource with students so they can learn from examples and also brainstorm. 

Why so Serious... ?

I played a serious game called Budget Hero. I played it twice. The game allows players to “manipulate” the government budget and see how their choices affect the deficit. I would incorporate this game into a unit about elections and political offices. This would be useful in an ESL classroom because it is teaching them about the government of the country in which they live in. This game is a good tool to learn about the vocabulary and issues that are discussed during election time. The aspect I didn’t enjoy about the game is that the numbers seem unreal and out of touch for the students who would be playing this game. Before playing the game the site asks for player information: name, nationality, and email. I didn’t like this either. Students (especially if they happen to be refugees or immigrants) would not feel comfortable with this.

My learning objectives would be for students to learn the vocabulary that is used during election time and also the meaning of the decisions made during election. Another objective would be on decision making or cause and effect. The students would be responsible for playing the game on their own since every student will have their own ideas and opinions. For assessment I would have the students write a reflection paragraph on their experience while they explain their choices while using the vocabulary they learned.

Gamification for ELLs

Gamificiation is the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging. As Educase points out the intention is to increase the learner’s interest and motivation to learn. Simply, it’s fun to learn when it feels more like a game than a task.  This is defined as Flow. Flow theory is made up of three features goals, feedback and skill v. difficulty balance. Intrinsic motivation is more likely increased when these three components are integrated in a games design.

I tested out an escape the room game called The Sound Factory. I played it four times. In a classroom setting I would make my objectives relevant to the vocabulary related to the employee/employer relationship. I would do a walk through with the class when introducing the game and vocabulary. The students would work alone and would “check in” with me when they met the “tire quota”.  At this point I would check the student’s comprehension of the tasks and its commands. I would then follow up on the game with an assessment where the students would reenact the work environment while using the vocabulary, sequencing, and commands they acquired through the game. While the students are reenacting the rest of the class can help out if assistance is needed. This would continue the game-like element of a non-game situation. Two birds with one stone!

The Do's and Don'ts of Twitter

After reading a couple of interesting articles on the etiquette suggested when using Twitter for learning/teaching it has become apparent that there are some rules to keep in mind.

10 Twitter Mistakes You Should Avoid reviews the most common mistakes that educators make when trying to harness Twitter as an educational tool. The most valuable one, to me, is the first rule: Over-Tweeting. I'm sure that once a certain level of comfort is attained it becomes easy to tweet every thought that may or may not be related to education. For the purpose of not bombarding any of your followers with irrelevant or "trivial" tweets; it should be a goal to only tweet when it is a good contribution to the community. Seems like just common courtesy, right? 

On the other hand, The Teacher's Guide to Twitter emphasizes the importance of not just "consuming" but "creating". It is easy to re-tweet someone else's ideas but as pointed out by the article, a one sided conversation will not last very long. I agree. I think it is important to use Twitter as a sounding board for ideas or questions you may have. It is a resource full of professionals that could only help. Participation will only help create a network for you to draw from. Also, don't forget to share your own resources this will keep the conversation going and also strengthen your network.

Microblogging in the Twitter-verse

This week opened up a whole new world for me. It has never occurred to me while exploring technology in an ESL classroom that Twitter could be wielded as a resource! How fascinating to participate in a "chat" with other teachers and professionals and exchange ideas and comments on a live feed. The chat is reminiscent of old AOL chat rooms but hosted once a week by topic hashtag. It is hosted for an hour per session with a prescribed topic related to second language acquisition.

I attended the #langchat session dedicated to circumlocution. In laymen's terms, getting students to use as many words to describe what they mean to say. Some attendees suggested playing games like "Taboo" or incorporating word webs. What I enjoyed the most was the sense of community or "we're in this together" feeling shared with the participants.

I believe these kinds of sessions would be helpful in generating ideas for possible teaching techniques. It is also a helpful resource for posting questions and getting answers from other professionals. It is another community resource that can definitely be useful for a budding ESL teacher like myself.

 Follow & Tweet me!

Scoop.It vs. Diigo

It is always important, when collecting information, to stay organized. In an electronic classroom this becomes the crux of teaching. As I have collected many ESL teaching resources and activities I tested out two social bookmarking programs. Diigo and Scoop.it are the two sites I signed up for to test out.

For my preference, I liked Diigo better. It allows you to follow people with similar interests and makes it very simple to collect your bookmarks.  It seems to be more of a professional resource. The aesthetic look of the site isn’t that pleasing and you can’t personalize it as much as the Scoop.it site allows.

With Scoop.it I was able to create different threads for different topics for Scoop.it. Also, what was the coolest feature, I could sign up through Facebook or Twitter. This makes it increasingly possible to share. As with Diigo, you can follow topics.

With Diigo, you can preview what the bookmarked site looks like without having to open the link. This makes it convenient to navigate through for someone who has a visual memory.

What it comes down to is preference. Both sites offer plenty of benefits.

If You Can't Beat 'Em...

While watching two interesting videos on the past and present states of the education paradigm often made me reflect on my own experiences during my time in different public education systems. Reflecting on the memories I can still remember vividly; most of them have a common thread: some form of technology. I most often remember the videos that were played in class. The whispering rumor about the "Miracle of Life" video that would be played in our next health class. Or the first time I was introduced to computers (outside of playing Solitaire) to learn and identify the geography of the USA.

It was while watching Changing Education Paradigms it dawned on me that while I was a kid in elementary school I searched for a different way to learn about the new culture I was immersed in while learning the proper grammatical features of my L2. The documentary covers the emergence of public education and the state in which it is now. With our society being so heavily reliant on social media and the technology that ties us to it we have begun to exclude the very things that hold our interest from our classrooms. It is notable that the documentary elaborates on the growing rate of stimuli children are confronted with on a daily basis and the direct correlation to the growing rate to ADHD diagnosis.

"We already live in a time of disconnect, where the classroom has stopped reflecting the world outside its walls." Educational Change Challange confronts the great debate on why all students grouped in the same age are supposed to be on the same learning level and are supposed to learn the same way. Incorporating technology in our classrooms and our lessons will help not only make our students excited to learn but also to incorporate what they so often use at home for an educational purpose. Instead of fighting to keep technology outside of our classrooms we need to begin an emphasis on incorporating it. As both documentaries point out; the purpose of an education is to prepare our students for the world outside of it. If the world outside includes many facets of technology, why aren't we incorporating them inside our classrooms?

Technology in an ESL classroom

Having technology in a classroom has many benefits but in an ESL classroom those benefits are multiplied since the students are able to practice what they learn in the classroom. For an ESL student this class initiated blog could provide an outlet for sharing their experiences with a community that is unique to them and to also explore what else it out there in the new culture they are immersed in. It provides a voyeuristic point of view into the new culture they are exposed to by reading the opinions and experiences of others outside of their community and possibly interacting with them through responses to these blogs.

Students who engage in a blog can help meet many of the ACTFL standards. Primarily, the communication standard 1.1: "Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions." This is easier for an ESL student who is usually shy in a traditional classroom since the blog setting provides some anonymity aspect. This can aid the student to write a little more freely about themselves and their views as well as learn about others without feeling awkward or overwhelmed.


Another standard that is directly met is the communities standard 5.1: "Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting." Blogging helps to reinforce what they are learning in the classroom. By participating in a blog they are connecting to a community they are getting comfortable with. Making a blog a requirement of a class provides the student to connect and to practice what they are learning.

Most of all a blog provides the outlet to express and to connect with others. It also chronicles progress made by the student by keeping a running record of all of their work. It is something they can look back on and be proud of.


As a graduate student this is what I hope to take away from this experience.