Week 10 Blog Post: Podcasts!

PODCASTS: I found this week's topics to be highly interesting. Perhaps this is because they address two of my favorite things. Professionally, I love teaching listening and speaking, and personally, I love podcasts. I could immediately see the potential benefits of incorporating podcasts into a classroom, both for listening and speaking practice. Dan Isbell and I discussed the following ideas: Application as project or task-based learning; Potential for collaboration between students when working together to produce a podcast; Potential for developing both fluency and accuracy in speaking; Ability to re-listen to material; Ability to re-record to produce better pronunciation. I also liked Jena's suggestion to use vocabulary podcasts, such as Bek's AWL Important Words,in conjunction with vocabulary logs. CORBEIL & CORBEIL: I found the Corbeil and Corbeil (2011) article very practical. I am taking my first online course this semester, and one of the difficulties has been feeling a connection to the teacher, just as they mentioned in the article. If the teacher were to produce a few podcasts or vodcasts in conjunction with the course, I would feel more positive to the feedback I am receiving from the teacher and about the experience of taking an online class in general. While online classes might be cost-effective and practical in many other ways, it's hard to get a sense of what the teacher expects without face-to-face interaction. Also, I think it would encourage me to contact the teacher with questions or concerns regarding the class if I had an idea of the teacher as an actual person rather than a machine-interface. FLIP TEACHING: James Carpenter and I occasionally talk about Flip Teaching, and podcasts/vodcasts are an integral part of teaching a Flip classroom. In a flip classroom, students watch or listen to the instruction at home, where they can rewatch or relisten as many times as they'd like, and where they can rewind and review as many times as necessary to comprehend the lesson. I think it is an interesting idea that I'd like to follow up with. Corbeil and Corbeil also had many practical suggestions for producing podcasts as a teacher, to encourage students to listen and stay engaged. ROBIN: The Robin (2011) article contained interesting speculations about advancements in technology especially as regards translation software for both written and spoken texts. While reading the article, I had a sudden fear that these technologies would eventually make our jobs as language teachers redundent! Our students are already using these technologies. I had a student recently admit to using translation software for her writing assignments. Will these translation technologies make it unnecessary to actually learn a langauge? (Maybe I am being unduly influenced by the science-fiction of Dr. Who, whose Tardis can translate nearly any langauge throughout time and space. Then again, I never thought 3D copying would be possible, but someone has made it so...) MUSINGS OF A TECH NON-NATIVE: I wonder if my enthusiasm regarding the applications for podcasts and vodcasts has something to do with my memories of utilizing a cassette recorder as a child. It was fun to record my voice while mimicing an accent or singing a song. The recordings provided my friends and I with a means to experiment with vocalizations, and a means of entertainment as we replayed and listened to them. All my memories are positive. I am not a "technological native" as the term is used today; I remember a time before email, personal computers, cell phones, video games, and the internet. I don't have the positive associations with current technology as many people in our class do, or as many of my students probably do. But I do have positive associations connected to technology as it relates to recording devices! That, plus the fact that I can see so many applications with a strong langauge learning focus, makes me excited about the potential of using podcasts in the classroom.

CALL me!

listen to ‘CALL Me’ on Audioboo

Synchronous CMC

Week 7: Synchronous CMC

Hi, I'm working backwards to get caught up on my blog posts. So, some things may be out of order.  Apologies.

During Week 7 we studied Synchronous CMC. Examples include chat groups, virtual worlds, cell phones, Skype, etc.  In SCMC, communication happens in real time using a technological platform.

I found the following ideas interesting:

1.  When using technology for language teaching, it is important to be aware that the technological medium changes patterns of communication.  I believe both Dubravac (2013) and Hampel (2006) mention this, and the observation applies to all forms of technology, not simply SCMC.  When designing tasks, the instructor needs to understand the patterns of interaction in the medium in order to design tasks appropriate for the medium and the language learning goals.  This will also allow the instructors to properly prepare the students to communicate effectively using the medium.  Dubravac mentioned that it is important to teach students common abbreviations used in Chat, for instance.  (Thank you, Dubravac, I finally know what IMHO means! This has been a mystery to me for years.)

2.  Before setting students to language tasks using technology, they first need to be instructed in the use of the technology.  IMHO, using technology that is familiar to students and frequently used by them works better than using new technological tools. Less time will then be spent teaching technology, and more time can be spent teaching language. I also believe teachers need to be fully trained and proficient in the technology being used. Schools and other entities dedicated to language teaching need to be "picky-choosy" when deciding what technology to adopt. Although some technology will become standardized over time, I don't see this happening consistently. My own observation is that it changes rapidly and inconsistently over time, especially in the field of consumer electronics and website applications. They are constantly "evolving." It is difficult to keep up with the latest technology and trends. Thus, the onus is on the school to make informed decisions about what technology to adopt, how to standardize it within their classrooms and over the curriculum, and to train teachers and students to use it proficiently and consistently.

3. Dubravac made some good points about practical considerations regarding the use of cell phones.  I had not thought about it, but some cell phone plans apply different usage charges. There may be limits on minutes or number of texts sent and received. These factors may make students reluctant to use their cell phones, and for good reason.

4.  Dubravac also made a good point about how in CMC, transcripts of student interactions are usually available. I can see many pedagogical uses for these. One suggestion for this was to show students how to ask follow-up questions to keep a conversation going. I thought that was a neat idea.

Asynchronous CMC

Week 8: Asynchronous CMC

This week, we studied asynchronous CMC, and were asked to post our blog via AudioBoo.com.  After 3 failed attempts, I was able to successfully record a response. Yay! Here is the
link:

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1252106-marianna-s-audioboo-blog-asynchronous-cmc

Have a wonderful evening.

Materials Development #1

Materials Development #1: VocaBlog Sentences

Level/Course Name:  Vocabulary Level 1

Duration of lesson: 1½ hours, with one 10 minute break                      

Lesson Written by: Marianna Beery

Explanation of learning context:

The following lesson plan was written for my Level 1 Vocabulary class at PIE.  There are 13 students in the class, all young-adult males from Saudi Arabia.  Students are tech-savvy, highly motivated, and very attentive in class.  The vocabulary class meets twice a week for an hour and a half.  Each class introduces them to a range of frequent vocabulary terms that are useful for day-to-day communications.  The following lesson plan was written for a unit on describing physical states and emotions. 

Students in Level 1 also attend a CALL class.  The activities in this lesson plan are assumed to take place after students have successfully set up a Google account in their CALL class, and have attempted to use a trial blog developed by their Vocabulary teacher by responding to a post during their CALL class.

Goals/Objectives:

There are five language-learning objectives in the Level 1 Vocabulary class that the activities in the following lesson plan achieve:

·      demonstrate knowledge of high-frequency topical vocabulary

·      produce meaningful grammatically correct sentences with the target vocabulary

·      use target vocabulary in meaningful communication in a variety of contexts

·      develop basic functional communication skills (e.g. complimenting, apologizing, asking for information)

·      improve spelling of target vocabulary

Technology Used:

·      Cell phones/smart phones

·      Google Blog: http://matdev1vocablog.blogspot.com/

Rationale for using technology:

The technologies I decided to use include cell/smart phones, and a Google blog.  Students in this class are adept users of cell phones and smart phones. I hypothesize that adapting familiar technologies would motivate students. Making phone calls in English is another notoriously difficult task for learners, and giving them practice on the phone with a dialogue performed in a previous class intends to help them gain confidence with telephone communications.

Students in this class are required to keep a handwritten vocabulary log.  For each new vocabulary word entered, they must also write a complete sentence. Vocabulary logs have spotty completion, and the students work on them independently.  They receive feedback on their sentences mainly through written comments by the teacher. 

I wanted to design an activity that would encourage students to read each others sentences, and to begin to analyze their own and others’ work for basic sentences structure, such as beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period. I thought a blog activity could be adapted for these purposes.  Wang and Vasquez (2012) report that one benefit of CMC applications, such as blogs, is increased opportunities for interaction and the negotiation of meaning.  Having students to write sentences on the blog rather in a vocabulary log encourages interaction, supports meaning-focused communications, and draws attention to form. 

Learning Objectives this lesson addresses:  

1. Demonstrate knowledge of high-frequency topical vocabulary	☒
2. Produce meaningful grammatically correct sentences with the target    vocabulary	☒
3. Use target vocabulary in meaningful communication in a variety of contexts	☒
4. Develop basic functional communication skills (e.g. complimenting, apologizing, asking for information)	☒
5. Improve spelling of target vocabulary	☒

Pre-lesson Inventory:

Ø  Things to bring to class: 7 copies of the Making Sentences handout

Ø  Equipment:

o   Computer with internet access, computer projection screen so students can see what is on the computer, PadCam, whiteboard and dry erase markers

Ø  Things to tell students:

o   They will get to use their cell phones in class today

Ø  Write objectives/agenda/HW on board:

o   Vocab Review

o   Sentence Rounds

o   VocaBlog Prep

o   VocaBlog Sentence Review

Ø  HW to collect: None

Ø  HW to assign: Reply to a comment with 4 sentences

Warm-up activity (  10 min.):  Review—How Do You Feel? 

Procedure:

1.     Write the following gambits on the board before class:

a.     Hi, how are you?

b.     Well, I feel _________________ right now. 

c.     Why?

d.     Because ________________________________________________.

2.     After taking role, review the dialogue they learned in the previous class, by modeling the dialogue with a student, using the gambits on the board. 

3.     Instruct students to take out their cell phones.  Ask the student for his/her cell phone number, and call the student on the phone, repeating the dialogue over the phone. 

4.     Pair students and have them practice the dialogue by calling each other on their cell phones. Remind them to speak in English at all times.

Transition:  Ask ss to put their phones away, but tell them that they will get to use them again later in class.  First, they need to practice writing sentences. 

Activity 1 ( 25 min.): Sentence Rounds

Procedure: (sequence as needed for activity)

Ø  Key Vocabulary: nervous, tired, excited, happy, hungry, thirsty, exhausted, annoyed, angry, furious, shocked, scared, surprised, worried, homesick, lonely

Ø  Building/Activating Background Knowledge

o   Remind student that last week, we learned adjectives for how we feel.  Elicit words from students.

Ø  Presentation of New Information

o   Tell students that today they are going to practice using the words in sentences. 

o   Elicit from students what they need to have a good sentence (write on the board):

§  Starts with a capital letter

§  Ends with a period

§  Has a subject and a verb

o   Tell students that for this activity they will also need to (write on the board):

§  Spell the word correctly

§  Use the word correctly

o   Pair students and hand each pair one copy of the Making Sentences handout. 

Ø  Practice

o   Using the PadCam, project the Making Sentences handout.

o   Have a student read the directions aloud. 

o   Walk the students through the instructions

§  Choose the word tired

§  Refer to the example sentence

o   Choose another word and write it on line 2. 

o   Ask who has a sentence for the word chosen.  Invite them to the PadCam and have them write their sentence in the space provided.  Then, ask them to choose a new word.  Write it on the space indicated on line 3. 

o   Point out that once they have used a word, they cannot use it again. 

Ø  Apply

o   Give students 10 minutes to work on the handout. 

Ø  Comprehension Check

o   Circulate through the room, assisting students when needed and answering student questions. 

Transition:  Inform students that now we will take a break, but when they come back we will try the same activity, but using the VocaBlog. 

10 MINUTE BREAK

Activity 2 ( 20 min.): VocaBlog Prep

Procedure: (sequence as needed for activity)

Ø  Key Vocabulary: nervous, tired, excited, happy, hungry, thirsty, exhausted, annoyed, angry, furious, shocked, scared, surprised, worried, homesick, lonely

Ø  Building/Activating Background Knowledge

o   Bring up the Vocabulary Blog on the computer and project so that students can see it:  http://matdev1vocablog.blogspot.com/

o   Ask students if they were able to log into the blog during their CALL class. 

o   Ask if anyone was able to read the blog and follow the instructions. 

Ø  Presentation of New Information

o   Read the post for them.

o   Scroll down to the comments and point out that some students were able to post their answers. 

o   Ask the students who were able to post comments to come to the front and read their comments to the class. 

Ø  Practice

o   Elicit from students the process of commenting on the blog. 

§  Remind them of the rules:

·      Read the previous blog post

·      Read the word they need to use next

·      Post a comment with their sentence and a word for the next student

·      No repeated words, so they need to read all the previous posts. 

o   Ask students to take out their cell phones and log into the blog.  Demonstrate how by doing the following: 

§  Scroll down past the comments to the text box.

§  Type the response in the text box.

§  Where it says, “Publish As” click on the drop-down box and choose their google.com name. 

§  Click on the “publish” button

§  Type in the security code

§  Their post should then be published and will appear on the screen

Ø  Apply

o   Using their smartphones, have students try and respond to the post.

o   If students don’t have a smartphone, pair them up with someone who does and have them take turns.  

Ø  Comprehension Check

o   Refresh the page on the computer so that students’ incoming posts will show up. 

o   Time permitting; invite a few students up to read their posts as they come in. 

Transition:  Tell students that now we have some good sentences on the blog. 

Activity 3 ( 25 min.):  VocaBlog Sentences Review

Procedure: (sequence as needed for activity)

Ø  Key Vocabulary: nervous, tired, excited, happy, hungry, thirsty, exhausted, annoyed, angry, furious, shocked, scared, surprised, worried, homesick, lonely

Ø  Building/Activating Background Knowledge

o   Have ss look at the sentences they wrote in Activity 1.  Ask students if they think they wrote the same sentences for each word?

Ø  Presentation of New Information

o   Assign each student a word.  Tell them they are in charge of that word.  They will need to read other people’s sentences, and write down four more sentences using that word. 

Ø  Practice

o   Refer to the instructions on the board for good sentences.

§  Starts with a capital letter

§  Ends with a period

§  Has a subject and a verb

§  Spell the word correctly

§  Use the word correctly

o   Show students a sentence on the VocaBlog that did not use a capital letter, and write it correctly on the board.  Tell ss they are in charge of making sure their sentences have all these things. 

Ø  Apply

o   Have students take out a pen or pencil and a piece of paper. 

o   Instruct students to circulate around the room, look at other students’ papers, and find 3 sentences using their word.  Remind them that all the sentences need to be different. 

Ø  Comprehension Check

o   Circulate through the room, ensuring students are on task, assisting students when needed and answering student questions. 

Transition:  Tell students they will take the sentences they just wrote down and add them to the VocaBlog.  This is their homework. 

Summary/Cool-down/Homework ( 5 min): Explain Homework

Procedure:

1.     Demonstrate for students how to complete the homework assignment.

a.     Show the blog on the TV screen

b.     Choose a word (ex: nervous)

c.     Find the comment that uses the word in a sentence

d.     Click on “Reply”

e.     Type in the 3 sentences

f.      Click on “Publish”

g.     Type in the security code and OK

h.     Your post will be published

2.     Tell students the homework will be due in the next class

             

Making Sentences

Emotions and Physical Descriptions

Directions:

1.     Choose a word from the box. 

2.     Write a sentence with the word.  

3.     Choose a word for your partner.  Write it on the next line.

4.     No repeats!  

nervous        tired        excited        happy        hungry       lonely            thirsty          exhausted        annoyed       angry         furious     shocked     scared      surprised     worried    homesick

1.  ______tired______

I feel tired tonight.____________________________________________________

2.  _____________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

3.  _____________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

4. ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

5.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

6.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

7.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

8.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

9.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

10.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

11.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

12.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

13.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

14.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

15.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

16.  ___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________