For young people without a personal connection to an immigration story, these websites, games, multimedia news pieces, and more, can help put a human face on an abstract debate.
For students with first-hand knowledge of the immigrant experience, they can find validation of their stories and/or those of their friends and family.
they can help students step back for a big-picture, historical perspective on U.S. immigration
The foreign born population map information says, "The culture and politics of the US have always been profoundly shaped by the material and emotional ties many of its residents have had to the places where they were born".
analyze migration patterns for the whole country over time
Not free (9.99) but sounds like an amazing learning experience.
Players approve or deny someone entry to a fictional country, basing their decisions on an ever-increasing number of virtual documents they must read and analyze.
YouTube Task #5: The Search
Showing a good video in a language class can immensely improve a typical lesson but the search can take a ton of time. This is where I spend the majority of my planning time because once I find a good one, it is the foundation for the entire lesson. I have 5 video searching tips to make it a little easier for you and…
But wait! Let’s change this up a little. I want to add that this is how I show my STUDENTS to find great videos. The person doing all the work is doing all the learning. – A Wise Educator
As soon as I can, I teach my students how to find relevant videos
I thought this was an interesting way to look at what students can research/read on their own and what class time should be used for - something to keep in mind as we're planning class!
I love free resources and I also love help to remember how to do something "techy". Once I have used a tool several different times, I am good to go. However, the first couple of times, I always need my reference.
I'm all about free resources! I especially like that there is a free Prezi guide b/c my students have to use Prezi for some of their projects, including one on the final exam, and it's tough for them if they have never used it before. That guide could really help in their understanding of how to use this tool.
It's about time! Now you can search for videos on YouTube that permit you to use them up front. Have you ever used the YouTube Video Editor - something else to check out!
A collection of all sorts of things here - from tech gadgets to apps for iPod Touch, to podcasts for mostly Fr, Sp, Gr, Jpn - but many will be applicable to all languages. It would take you a long time to look at everything that's here!
It seems at times that "wired differently" is being used as an excuse for a growing inability to stay on task. When the need for immediate gratification leads you to think that 6 minutes of YouTube is a substitute for reading Vonnegut, I get a little worried. The social world of the teenagers may center around multitasking, but that seems to suggest that we need to have them work on focused concentration in the classroom ... rather than reinforcing skills that they are mastering on their own.
Jon- I totally agree that we should still make them read Vonnegut and can't use new culture/brain learning styles as excuses- how to reconcile the new ways students are and our teaching styles is where we need to research more so we can implement instructional practices that meet them where they are at and get them to the place we need them to be.
Backchannel communication is a secondary electronic conversation that takes place at the same time as a conference session, lecture, or instructor-led learning activity. On an informal basis, this might involve students using a chat tool or Twitter to discuss a lecture as it is happening
This may seem obvious, but judging by the notices we have received, many teachers (and especially students) are under the impression that if it is on the web, then it is up for grabs.
This is protocol in my classroom-they may as well learn it right the first time rather than the hard way later. When using Google images: go all the way to the cog wheel pull down on the right side of the toolbar; 2) go down to Advance Search; 3) inside Advanced Image Search, all the way at the bottom is a pulldown for usage rights, select "free to use or share" or, if you need to alter the image in anyway "fee to use share or modify."
That is, in some cases, if an image, text, video, etc. is being used for educational purposes, there might be more flexible copyright rules.
Just yesterday I was watching a webinar from a national organization, and on one of the PowerPoint pages I saw a picture of one of my district's students with his PE teacher. I was shocked and wondered how it came to be in this webinar. I can only guess that there was a newpaper article with this picture in the local paper, and that put it out there on the web, and it was found and inserted into this PowerPoint. I also thought it was pretty cool - one of ours in something like that. It was crazy just happening upon it like I did though.
But make sure to check specific copyright restrictions before uploading anything you’ve scanned to the web!
This is a biggie! I know of some teachers who upload all their homework handouts in .pdf format. I can think of only one who might have asked permission to do so. But, why bother buying that textbook's workbook if I can download it from another district for free. I can certainly see publishers having issue with that.
This answers my earlier question about using a video in eduCanon. Seemed really wrong to do that, but guess it is understood when you upload if you allow others to borrow, they will.
I guess that's why on some music videos, there is a statement that there is no ownership in the content? I don't know. I also bookmarked this article as I know I will need it as time goes on.
If you're not familiar with Edutopia, you should take some time to browse around their site. This is the Technology Integration section, but there is much, much more - very innovative, creative group!
These are established Language Practice Hangouts for language. But, I thought this would be a great idea for an extension of speaking in class. It could be voluntary or mandatory. Would be neat, too, if kids who have moved on to upper levels moderated the Hangout from time to time.
they are just so dang fun and easy and I plop them into the middle of a unit for no reason at all!
Sometimes, I select MovieTalks because of their topic: the content relates to something that we are studying or discussing in class. Other times, I select MovieTalks because of the vocabulary: I know that I can talk about the video using the same words that I am working with in class with my students. And still other times, I select MovieTalks because
I think that thinking with this sort of flexibility is really important and insightful. It might not be a bad idea to have a few of these for some brain breaks when kids are tired or to think of it for different functions like content or culture.
"Abstract
Currently, language educators experience difficulties in facilitating oral practice effectively in the foreign language classroom. Regularly, they face introverted and passive learners who fail to embrace speaking opportunities (Poza, 2011), or simply do not find the time to promote speaking practice in the classroom (Meddings & Thornbury, 2009). In this light, many asynchronous computer mediated communication (ACMC) technologies have emerged to confront this situation. However, central research studies do not seem to acknowledge ACMC as viable in accommodating oral development but, rather, frequently attribute this merit to synchronous CMC (Levy & Stockwell, 2006; Kervin & Derewianka, 2011). By employing a mixed-methods approach, this small-scale case study examines, firstly, the extent to which ACMC speaking practices are suitable for language learners' speaking development. Secondly, and by extension, it investigates the salient characteristics of the ACMC tool myBrainshark, that makes it appropriate for fostering linguistic growth. The data is obtained from post-beginner Spanish language learners by means of an online questionnaire and an online structured stimulated recall. The findings show, on the one hand, that ACMC oral practices can be beneficial in developing speaking aspects in lower-proficiency language learners and, on the other hand, that myBrainshark has characteristics that can potentially promote linguistic development. Finally, this paper calls for experimental research on the improvement of oral competency in post-beginner and higher-proficiency learners."
Furthermore, it has been shown that students prefer to contact their peer students rather than their tutor when they are struggling with coursework, facing difficulties in assessing facilities and understanding lectures
Validates the "three, then me" concept that asks students to ask three other students for help before asking the teacher. Students are perhaps more available asynchronously than the teacher as well, when students need help
Validates the "three, then me" concept that asks students to ask three other students for help before asking the teacher. Students are perhaps more available asynchronously than the teacher as well, when students need help
Researchers also noted that people who interact more in an online course tend to achieve higher marks on exams, as opposed to lurking which is not as successful [12]
I suspect that students' achievement was assessed in online format; that is why students who interacted more could achieve higher marks.
Students who are required to collaboratively work online need to dedicate time to get to know each other and therefore are able to accomplish effective communication in an online environment [29]
This outcome tells us that the students seem to be more excited, talkative and social with one another, as well as chat/contribute more at the start of the course, but their overall participation rates were on a decrease during the duration of the course.
Or perhaps they're bored with this way of learning?
Furthermore, it has been shown that students prefer to contact their peer students rather than their tutor when they are struggling with coursework, facing difficulties in assessing facilities and understanding lectures
Active participation in discussions is a key to success. If you use a flipped classroom, providing useful vocabulary and sentence structures they might want to use to talk about a particular topic also helps the students participate more in discussions.
This is a good reference that was made as a blog for Arabic Grammar, that I use all the time when teaching Arabic.I think the group can use the same idea and create simple grammar lessons in FL, these lessons can be useful for all the teachers teaching for example French, German all over the world.