Practical uses of Web 2.0 tools et al. for learning English
Audacity
| I'd like to share with you a simple 'exercise' I tried last Sunday. My brother and I have been playing with Audacity for a while, exploring its possibilities, and the sequence we made shows how you can add various tracks to the same recording, creating an interesting effect. The mp3 tracks were then transferred to Evoca and posted on the blog in sequence, so that you can see how we got to the final result. We used music but you could use the same technique to create news programmes, stories etc. with your students. There was very little editing and we only used a regular PC mic connected to his computer. Here's the link: http://tangrambr.blogspot.com/ Monica (25Jan08) |
Blogs and wikis
|If I had to choose among all tools available "up there", I'd certainly pick "blogs" and "wikis". They are the framework, the hosts, the home for all other tools and apps, the "must-have" for every single teacher on earth. In short, these are the reasons why "blogs" are already popular with EFL eachers:
- They allow instant publishing to the Internet
- They cost little or nothing
- They provide a comment feature that allows interaction from others
- They are dynamic and focus on content from the participants - listening, talking, collaborating, having a dialog, sharing
- They work for any subject
- They are empowering - they give everyone a voice
- They make writing THE focus - send the message that writing matters
- They promote ownership of work
- They allow us to learn from our students
- They allow us to reflect on our teaching and our student's learning: think, review, rethink, an endless process
- They allow the interchange of thoughts and ideas
- They are exciting - seeing others comment on your thoughts/anticipating comments and replies.
And what can a blog be seen as? - a way to improve our own writing
- a just in time learning arena
- a place to share
- an easy way to create a website quickly
- a way to connect with others and make connections to learning
- a perfect spot for quick writes
- a writing room you can make it be what you want it to be
- a place to visit daily, which provides elements of surprise
- a way to give students ownership of a personal web space, which encourages active engagement
- a place to collaborate
- a personal way to include parents in the process.
What can we, as teachers, use a blog for? - to post short current events/ articles to invite students thoughts, reactions, and possible solutions
- to create a literature circle
- to post photos and ask students to create captions
- to foster book discussions in the form of an online book club
- to encourage student writing to demonstrate learning
- to direct students to curriculum web sites and have them read and make responses
- to communicate with another classroom
- to react to teacher entries about what they are learning and make connections to how this learning is relevant for them
- to post quotes and have students write their interpretation and apply it to something in their life
- to invite one student a day to post a summary and reflections on the day's learning
- to observe the growth of plants or animals or keep records of science experiments
- to spot and record student kindnesses or good deeds
- to develop new vocabulary by writing about the new word and having students create sentences or a brief paragraph using new vocabulary
- enable students to post their ideas for the classroom or school
- let students write short reviews of books they are enjoying reading
- showcase their best writing pieces
- maintain communication with absent students
- challenge students by placing quizzes and tests online
- get parents more involved by giving them access to their children's assignments.
Students can create their own blog to: - complete class writing assignments
- create an ongoing portfolio of samples of their writing
- express their opinions on topics you are studying in class
- write comments, opinions, or questions on daily news items or issues of interest
- discuss activities they did in class and tell what they think about them
- write about class curriculum topics, newly-learned vocabulary words and idioms.
Blogs features: - Comment feature
- Archiving entries
- Linking (Permalink)
- Blogrolls
- RSS feeds
- Photos/images
- Audio/video
- Moblogging
- Ipodding.
This is part of a ppt presentation I gave on blogging a couple of years ago in my area, and I can tell you most of the people in the audience ignored the existence of blogs. I can remember my sense of frustration at the general lack of enthusiasm for opening up one, though I must say that I met some very responsive followers, like three wonderful colleagues who are here in this group today! - Silvia, Noemi and Mary!! -, which proves Webheads seeds sprout up and flourish at the end of the day!!!
As to "wikis", they: - are flexible
- are intensively collaborative
- focus on content
- are open to anybody
- are editable by anyone
- can be organized in innumerable ways.
What can we use wikis for? - instructions, manuals, glossaries
- a class or group project with a bibliographic format
- a letter or statement presented on behalf of the class
- a handbook or textbook: build a guide to correct punctuation
- any project not requiring authorship.
I have also extracted these excerpts from another presentation I gave on the use of Wikis for language learning, and I hope they can give you a closer idea of similarities and differences between these two unmatchably useful tools the web offers us for free.
Rita(28Jan08)|
Chinswing
| I have used chinswing and would like to contribute my 2 euro cents, too. We experimented with Chinswing with my students (at Pre-Intermediate level) by recording their own stories. The task was to use Past simple and linkers as well as some keywords. I also asked the Chinswing participants to choose the best story. Though we did not get much feedback, the idea was new and worth trying, I think. You can find our experiment here: http://www.chinswing.com/pages/discussion.aspx?id=d70816cd-aa72-424c-9324-462ac9f70000 Elfina (26Jan08) --- I've just listened to your students' stories in Chinswing. That was a great way of using the tool and integrating in a natural way different aspects of language learning - if you think about it, they are speaking, listening to each other, practising narrative writing, reading aloud, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary...) Monica Veado (27Jan08) |
Jigsaw puzzles
| I use online jigsaw-puzzles for teaching in my graduate and undergraduate courses. Here are some examples: Undergraduate (two examples): With this jigsaw, I ask my English for architecture students, when studying construction materials, What do you see in the puzzle? What is the material used? How many types of uses are given to the material? http://id2125-parallel.pbwiki.com/Week4#Activities On another unit (different course), I ask my students to recognize the kind of bridge presented in the puzzle: http://id3-124dg.pbwiki.com/Week2#Activities (at the bottom of the page) Graduate course (one example) I use jigsaws in my e-projects course to show participants that developing an e-project is like solving a jigsaw, there are many stragies but there is always a strategy which is more eficient ;-) I give them a jigsaw with one simple cut. Ask them to solve it, and then, at the end, they have to explain what was their strategy to solve it and how long they spend in the process. Then, I ask them to use a more complex cut, and ask them to solve it, of course, which each cut they have to use different solving strategies, and this is discussed in terms of different projects. For each project you might have to use different strategies. http://e-proyectos.wikispaces.com/Semana+1 (this course is in Spanish) With language students at the beginner levels: Create puzzles with questions. Students solve the puzzle and the first one to finish answers the questions. The background of the puzzle can be the answer to the questions. For example: question: What do you see? or What is this?, the background of the picture is a table or any other object/food/body part, etc. It can also be used for counting, fill in the blanks, etc. I use http://www.jigzone.com for my jigsaw puzzles. Daf (25Jan08) |
Skype
| I discovered Skype a week ago and ... I see the following possibilities (just ideas!!) Teaching Listening and Conversation 1) one to one mode a) The conversation: The conversation follows the chat (the written text is a kind of saying out the written text( chat) b) Teaching Responses in the Conversation the chat offers a number of responses to the questions and the tutor asks the question and the student has to say the adequete response. I could go on with possibilities but it looks to me now they are all transferred from the "tradtional classroom". 2) group speaking. I think that it is a challenging thing both for the teacher and the learner. This fits more into the free practice stage for teaching Conversation. But then the question is what are the benefits for Skype apart from the fact that people can learn and teach at a distance? And what are the drawbacks/pitfalls for using Skype for teaching languages? Can anyone share the experience of using SKYPE in THE EFL classroom Natalia (22Jan08) |
| I have been using skype since it was created back in November 2003. You can see here a web page where I tell about my experience: http://www.geocities.com/dafne_gonzalez/wia/playing_with_skype.html I have also used skype for dictations in private tutoring. I say a sentence and the student write it on the text-chat and then reads it. Also, I write a sentence/paragraph and the student reads out loud. So, Skype is good for reading, writing, listening and speaking. Daf (22Jan08) |
| I haven't used Skype in my classes, but I recently read an article "Making Skype more than just another desktop icon" by Ben Redmond. The article introduces The MIXXER which is a language exchange community for teachers and students using Skype. You can find more information at http://www.language-exchanges.org/login.aspx If any of you have used it, I would be interested in hearing your impressions. Sally (22Jan08) |
| I thought that Skype was really good for speaking and listening, but hadn't realized that it is pretty good for reading and writing too. So I think it can also be good for translation and interpretation purposes. Evelyn (22Jan08) |
| I use skype and msn for online tutoring and translation help. Students can record individual voice clips in msn to save for listening to later. Using msn or skype or yahoo voice messenger for minimal pair practice in pronunciation is effective. It took one of my online learners several tries to perfect the pronunciation of a word... I used skype today to translate a learner's resume. We spoke when needed to clarify terms. I used mS Word track changes to edit his rough draft. We exchanged the Word documents via the send file funtion. Mary (22Jan08) |
| I am new to the use of Skype and I can see a lot of potential in the classroom. I was thinking on its use in testing. Assuming that we are interested in performance assessment and what students can actually do with the language, it would be nice to use skype to pair our students with other learners of the L2 around the world to solve language tasks over Skype. Conversations could be recorded and assessed by teachers using a rubric containing not only the traditional grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and fluency aspects, but also features such as task completion, negotiation of meaning and strategies used to complete task, etc. I feel the sense of achievement and motivation of our students can increase, because we are assessing their actual communicative abilities. This sounds ideal, however it's worth noting that some challenges may be faced: a) All students should have access to internet. A fast connection would facilitate the interactions. b) Finding students at the same level or a little beyond (i + 1). c) Design relevant tasks to students interest and curriculum content. d) Design a reliable rubric. e) Can we record such conversations over Skype or use other tools? The list could be long, but I think it would be interesting to try the idea to see what other challenges could arise and if the benefits are greater than the costs. Yuly (24Jan08) |
| Hi, Yuli. Very good ideas in your comment. I have used Skype with my students for joint projects with teachers and students from different countries, and all students involved (and teachers!)have enjoyed the experience. You point out several tips to make it a really succesful session, which are very important, such as pairing students of the same age and language level. This would be the basic and first condition, or else the project will fail. MOTIVATION is as important, since only if students find the topic appealing will they participate with intrinsec interest. I guess this is the most demanding part, as each group will pose different challenges, which we, teachers should pay heed to. In general, all students at an upper-intermediate level will be interested in cultural differences, having to do with topics concerning their age. I remember one project I carried out with Buthaina, an EFL teacher in Kuwait, which was so successful that the day my students met on Skype, after having interacted asynchronously in a blog through text, they got such a thrill that they didn't want to leave the session!! And this is what we should try to gain from experiences like this, students' zest to carry out the task through which they'll not only practise the language but learn as well while enjoying the whole process. Our main concern should be finding the right topic and designing a good activity to arouse learners' attention and willingness to participate actively without their feeling it's a "compulsory task" they have to comply with. Rita (24Jan08) |
| The idea of using Skype as a tool for performance testing (or assessment) sounds great but I think there are some factors which call for more consideration. You know, when it comes to testing we need to follow some sort of stardards or say criteria. So what are our criteria for considering the skype conversation as a sample of speaking skill? Another issue that might concern us is how we define operationally the construct we want to test--which performance do want to test? The other thing that worries me is the extraneous factors that might contribute to the invalidity of the test such as the interruptions in the conversations because of the technology problems. These interruptions will negatively affect the students' performance. Despite all these challenges, I do believe Skype and YM are among the best tools that develop confidence in the students regarding their ability to converse in a second language in a stress-free environment. Masoud (25Jan08) |
| I agree with your arguments, except with the one that you need to have students of the same level for the project not to fail. I believe, due to my own experience in the classroom, f2f and in blended courses, that heterogenous groups are ideal to promote real interaction, scaffolding and negotiation of meaning, two important aspects for language learning to take place, acording to SLA theories and to our experience at the university with our English for architecture and urban planning students. Chatlogs are a wonderful source of data to study interaction, scaffolding and negotiation of meaning. Daf (25Jan08) |
Tapped In and Skype
| I've thought of an activity. Here it goes: a- I'd send a group of students to Tapped-in. Let's say 16 sts. b- I'd receive them in a certain room, but i'd reserve two. c- They'll take part in a quizz show. d- Given the instructions, they'll divide in two groups, 2 rooms. They'll be given 30 minutes. e- Each group will have to think of 10 questions. Here we'll think about the topic. It might be about historical events, celebrities, etc. f- The facilitator will be present in case sts need help. g- After that, they'll connect to skype. It could also be the following class h- here, they'll connect in pairs. Ask each other questions . . . And the winner is . . . Marina Alfonso (23Jan08) |
Voicethread
| What I like about Voicethread though is that you or your students can for example upload a picture and tell a story or describe the picture. You could even give a presentation with it and ask students to do the same. A lot of potential there. Nergiz (31Jan08) |
Yahoo Messenger & Audacity
| How I've used a couple of voice tools with YLs (5th-6th graders). They've recorded voice messages with HandyBits (offline voice mail), Audacity and my PDA to make contact with the outside world and receive responses that are heard in class. The four basic skills - reading, writing, listening and speaking - are practiced, because they start by writing the message on the board (it's a collaborative task) and copying it in their notebooks. Then they read it once or twice before one student or the whole class records it. Finally, they listen to the end product, which I later insert in one of our blogs. We've also used voice messages/podcasts to roleplay dialogues (I should say that they mainly read from their textbook rather than act it out) and to say what we've done in class in previous weeks (a sort of online diary of classwork). This is mainly done with my PDA (always with me). At home I transfer the file to my laptop, convert it to .mp3 with Audacity, upload it to my server and insert it in the blog. We've also recorded "Happy Birthday" on several occasions. We've also had live chats at Yahoo Messenger (recorded with Audacity) with Webhead friends throughout the world: Aiden Yeh (Taiwan) and Agata Zieba-Warcholak (Poland) in June 2005, Cristina Costa (England), Hala Fawzi (Sudan) and Michael Coghlan (Australia) in June 2007. The first year with Aiden and Agata we didn't prepare anything. It was a very impromptu session. Aiden and Agata (separate chats) both asked simple questions and the students replied. If they didn't get it, they'd say: "Repeat, please!" The students also asked questions. http://64.71.48.37/teresadeca/school/fwe5-jun05.htm#21Jun05 For the second live chat (2007) they prepared an interview in class using structures they had learned during the two years. I just asked them to think of questions they'd like to ask one of my many friends throughout the world. The following lesson I surprised them with a live chat with the three teachers. It was a grand finale! http://call05-06.motime.com/post/665851 We've also received video messages from teacher-friends and sent them "thank you" video messages for their collaboration. These were recorded with Windows voice programs and a webcam. (You may have to click the Play button more than once to get it going.) http://64.71.48.37/teresadeca/school/fwe5-jun05.htm#6Jun05 (Daf) http://64.71.48.37/teresadeca/school/fwe5-jun05.htm#Dennis (Dennis Oliver) http://64.71.48.37/teresadeca/school/fwe5-jun05.htm#permission (Rodrigo, a 6th grade student) In last year's bog I embedded a MyChingo voiceboard and anyone could record messages. Several students recorded from home. We also recorded messages in class. I even used a few for listening exercises created with Quia. http://fwe2.motime.com/ (frame on the right) These are different activities through which students can practice language learned, communicate with the outside world, broaden their horizons, develop their e-literacy skills, while parents have a chance to follow their child's speaking skills. Teresa (27Jan08) |
| Wow this is really great. You have shared so many great ideas to work with voice and video. They are all very practical. What I like most about them is that they integrate the four skills as you have said, they promote interaction between students themselves and with people outside the class. Another good think about all of them is that students do not necessarily need be connected to the web to create content for those activities. José Antônio (27Jan08) |
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