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I found this site on Feedly and started following it; this guy travels around the world learning foreign languages; this article in particular discusses how to learn minority and endangered languages, however I find the innovation and his motivation to be the greatest factors in his success. He's not following someone else's path and as the actual process of learning a FL is such a personal thing, I think he's really on to something! From the site: "There are almost too many sites and resources for big languages like French, Spanish and German. When you're learning a language like these, the problem is usually deciding which resource to use rather than not being able to find one. But what about those of us who want to learn a less popular language (minority or endangered)?"

This is a listing of ways to use social media in the classroom.  

I like what srafuller says about not expecting students to be like we were when we were students. I struggle with that in all the classes I teach, not just the foreign language. I work to be conscious of reaching students "where they are" every day. Not only that, but we need to be conscious (at least older teachers like me) of not teaching the way we were taught!

I really like this article! Simple, to-the-point, useful suggestions for several on-line applications. I tried out Duolingo but was chagrined to find out they don't offer Russian (Ukrainian and Esperanto but not Russian?!). I could, however, study English from Russian, which has several activities (especially translation) that my students can use. Thanks for posting this article!

A little off-topic for Week 5 but overall relevant to this course.

"The use of technology is not a goal in and of itself; rather technology is one tool that supports language learners as they use the target language in culturally appropriate ways to accomplish authentic tasks." This quote stood out to me and it is so true. sometimes we feel pressured to use technology but we forgot the pedagogy purpose.

Thanks for sharing it. We are using technology for our language lessons. I agree what ACFLT says about having clear that tech is a tool not a goal since the most important aspect is the learning.

Click the box next to foreign languages on the left for a filtered list of apps good for language teaching.

Tudini's new book takes a Conversation Analysis approach, which is new to online Second Language Acquisition. It provides observable, previously undocumented insights into how native speakers and learners pursue the learning of foreign language and culture during online text chat.

This slideshare ppt has some practical ideas for synchronous learning on slides 19, 20, & 21. It mentions the use of 2 FREE tools that are excellent for foreign language use: makebeliefscomix.com & devolver moviemaker. Check it out!

An account of how a elementary level language teacher uses Wikipedia in his courses. Describes his end-of-course creation project.

Using Seesaw in the language classroom. It is a place where students can write comments and respond to each other's writing. It allows teachers to have all of their students writing in one place, organized into classes, and allows the teacher to give feedback.

This article from The Guardian discusses the impact of the government decision to lower the requirements for learning a world language based on the belief that, once the England leaves the EU, other languages won't be necessary. Essentially their equivalent of the Education Department is changing back to more extensive requirements so that by 2025 90% of students will be studying a language again.

ACTFL 2012 presentation "Emerging technologies are changing the way we do things, and teaching a world language is no exception! Learn how Web 2.0 technology can enhance what you are doing in your classroom, what the 21st Century Skills are, and how you can support them through communicative world language teaching strategies. Best of SCOLT Presentation."

Technology in the classroom

Abstract This study contributes to the body of research that aims to understand the relationship between online communication and foreign language (FL) learning, in particular when teachers seek to provide authentic opportunities for interaction for their learners. The study was motivated by efforts made in the New Zealand context to overcome the geographic limitations of interaction between FL learners and native speakers. We report on the findings of an exploratory study into an online reciprocal peer tutoring program established to enhance the FL learning of a group of beginner eleven-year old students of Spanish, with particular focus on the benefits of written corrective feedback. The project aimed to examine the processes by which students tutored each other in the online environment as they responded to each other's texts. The analysis of the students' messages focused on (1) the aspects of language corrected by the tutors, (2) the frequency with which tutors accurately identified and provided input on errors, (3) the types of feedback provided by the tutors, and (4) what the learners did with the corrections and feedback. The findings indicate that the students were willing to contribute to peer correction and used different strategies and correction techniques to foster attention to linguistic form, although they were not always capable of providing accurate feedback or metalinguistic explanations.

I vividly recall sitting in my son's Spanish classroom during an Open House back in 2011, listening to the teacher explain how they reviewed vocabulary and grammar during class. She reminded us of the importance of finding opportunities for students to listen to, and even better, speak the language outside of class.

Interesting comment promoting the discussed topic applied to Spanish.

Great ideas for using Wallwisher with language students. To name just a few, you could use it for collaborative homework, vocab practice or daily sentences.

I like this article even though it's from 6 years ago because it talks about the benefits to teletandem communication. I hope you are able to read it because it's from the Chronicle of Higher Education and you might need to sign up.

It sounds interesting but I can't read the article because it prompts me to log in or create an account. I've always been interested in what I call "The cultural dimension of FL teaching".

This Web site by the Irish polyglot who gave a TED talk about speaking from day one is billed as foreign language and travel hacks. Any brief perusal of social media sites like Pinterest or Tumblr will show that hacks are a popular topic -- life hacks, cleaning hacks, Disney hacks, etc.

Very interesting. thanks for sharing. :)

ACTFL's Language Educator is looking for responses to some questions, including Tech use. Perhaps we have something to offer...?