But true authenticity comes from the activities we use during class time, leaving an impact on the communicative skills of our students.
Use the language proficiency site developed by UTexas to gain access to native Spanish speakers talking about a variety of themes. These are conveniently divided into proficiency levels.
I tried this activity by having each group research then report about an Arabic speaking country of their choice and the activity was a great success. They seemed to have had a lot of fun, presented short clear sentences (for the most part) that also provided factual and relevant material, and it opened the door for some spontaneous cultural themes and relevant dicussions.
I've used some of the videos from UTexas. Some of the novice level videos are still too difficult for my middle schoolers though! I have to give lot's of scaffolding and support.
remember these rules when selecting activities:
They must be authentic.
They should always be engaging.
Activities should be varied.
They need to be focused around the unit theme.
Perhaps most importantly, they should force students to use the target language.
Too many apps to sort through to find an educationally useful one? Here's a database that is "a central resource to assist educators looking for mobile apps to facilitate the learning process" - the TBR dLearning Initiative.
Sign-up for the 30-day, but a year - free!
Here's info I got in an email notification:
We are glad to announce a free WizIQ individual membership for K-12 and College teachers. To be eligible for this offer, teachers need email addresses associated with their educational institutes (e.g., aprofessor@college.edu or ateacher@adistrict.k12.ma.us.)
If you are a teacher from K12 or a College, apply and claim your free membership by following the steps below:
Steps to get free WizIQ membership:
1.Sign up for a 30-day trial by clicking on the 'Apply now' button below
2. Verify your email address from your email inbox
3. You'll receive a confirmation email from us once your free membership is approved
Apply now
WizIQ's free teacher accounts give educators at accredited institutions access to a range of teaching tools. To many educators, the virtual classroom for which WizIQ is best known only means live classes, which they might not need considering they see their students in person every day.
But with the WizIQ Virtual Classroom teachers can also:
Offer online courses for their school
Run virtual office hours and homework help
Run summer school online to address transportation and facilities issues
Give AP students a jumpstart with virtual summer class sessions
Let athletes or homebound students work with their classes, live, even if they can't be there
Easily set up classes - without IT help
Bring subject matter experts into their classrooms virtually
Support group and project-based learning
Engage hard-to-reach parents with:
Virtual parents' nights
Virtual conferences
Adult education and community outreach
Virtual math and literacy nights
Broadcast live school committee meetings on the web
Record lectures or flip their classrooms
Conduct virtual field trips
Run professional development when and where staff are available
Share teaching resources among schools
Teachers can take full advantage of every WizIQ feature, including screen-sharing, polling, video-confe
We aim to provide examples of authentic language spoken in its natural cultural environment so that students of all ages can better understand the interplay between a language and its culture. The videos were filmed with handheld camcorders and microphones provided by the Center. The video and audio quality varies.
This resource page gives access to spoken language and culture through authentic video and audio materials. There are materials in different languages on a variety of topics raging from basic communication, to culture, social life, transportation, etc. I found materials from some of Latin American countries and Spain on necessitites>emergency situations (Emergency Room, Taking the Physical Exam, etc.) for my Medical Spanish class.
Students should be aware that we have tried to remain true to the language our subjects
actually uttered. Therefore, we have not corrected grammatical errors and the videos sometimes show highly colloquial language, local slang, and regional specific speech patterns.
From the website: "NOVASTARTALK website, [is] an online resource that supports workshops and webinars designed to help teachers use technology tools and 21st century language pedagogy in the official STARTALK languages. In the face-to-face program, teachers of less-commonly-taught languages (Arabic, Chinese, Dari, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu) create technology-enhanced activities [..]"
All of these are great ideas for a content-based language classroom!!! I already plan to do a few of them. Now if only our school would unblock these sites, at least for teachers...
Have fun at conferences. If you are attending a conference, give BackChatter a try–a game that uses Twitter and makes attendees interactive participants.
I've done this at conferences - a great way to get notes from one session while you're in another. And a way to plan where to meet up for dinner!
Teachers in lecture classes use Twitter as a "back channel" for students to use to ask questions and discuss while the lecture is in progress. Oh, I see this is mentioned in the "Community" section below...
I think this Blog is rich with possibility for utilizing social media for the teaching of a second language. Students so much into social media and they also get motivated by change in ideas and activities. The variety of possibilities that this blog offers provides a teacher with a good resource that would work for various language levels.
Since this tool would be available to numerous students, it would be very helpful that a wide array of related topics are mapped out so that each student focuses on what's most relevant to their interests/needs.
Prezi is a good resource for students to look at a wide array of related topics and choose the angle that best suits their research or class direction. Gradeguru and Notehall are mainly about student exchange of helpful notes and study materials. Dropbox is mainly a storage tool that also allows sharing and exching files. Chegg is a book rental tool.