carlatech

"Tips and Strategies for Learning to Speak Mandarin Chinese"

Although this article is about British language education and it's two years old, my interest was piqued when I read it: ""Languages cannot be taught, they can only be learnt. The best way is to tell students right away that they are responsible for their own learning process, and the teacher is just a guide who has to motivate them."" Made me think about relevancy and how Tech is only one part of that.

Really interesting. I wonder if we changed the setting to the U.S. if the same difficulties would apply. I never really thought about grammar being discarded simply because students don't know it well enough. While I've found that most students we teach don't understand their mother tongue, I still think that the shift to task-based work had as much to do with the lack of real communication skills. Just teaching them grammar and relying on them to go abroad to learn to speak wasn't doing it. That being said, I think the mixture of methods is best, and by mixture I mean the integration of many methods into accomplishing a task. And I agree that the meta-learning is key.

I remember getting a comment from a student once, many years ago, that she had learned more about English grammar in my Spanish class than anywhere else... (sigh)

Usie Piktochart to create an interactive graphic syllabus. Laura Sexton has wonderful ideas, is a genius with Tech, and is a super, enthusiastic NC teacher. I recommend her website and blogs - PBL in the TL.

Thanks for the reference! This is really cool--not sure if our syllabus policy would allow it, but it really looks like fun and is much more attention-grabbing. I imagine, though, that it takes a while to get to the level of organization she has attained with the images and layout.

Love it!

A productivity suite for K-12 teachers with an online private community to share resources, hold discussions, and work together, all in a secure manner.

MindShift explores the future of learning in all its dimensions. We examine how learning is being impacted by technology, discoveries about how the brain works, poverty and inequities, social and emotional practices, assessments, digital games, design thinking and music, among many other topics.

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)?"

A subset of blogs on Edutopia dealing solely with issues/activities/debates about the world languages classroom. This site provides thoughtful blogs on everything from technology, to methodological debates, to specific activities, all centered on world languages.

Relevant comments, ideas and even strategies.  Very useful. 

This blog has information not only on practical things, such as how to use VoiceThread, but also on how to create community in online courses. Seems interesting so far.

Interesting to read about her progression throughout the years using these different sites.

A lot of valuable information here. Thanks for sharing.

From Transparent Language, offering projects to do in Russian

Anant Agarwal runs EdX.org, the Harvard-MIT open-education site, and he's here to talk MOOCs, those "massively open online courses" that have generated both excitement and skepticism throughout the chattering world of the digital classes. Agarwal shows a picture of a lecture hall in MIT from 50 years ago.

"Five Two Zero So Much"

Ellen is learning 19 languages and Arabic is to start in September.

If you are seeing this with the Chrome Extension - I'm discovering that there is no way to share your highlights and post-it notes with the group. Go back and install the Diigolet - instructions in Week 2!

Wow, just imagine how much calmer the world could be if classrooms were set up to allow for multiple temperaments as well as learning styles?! Also, the think-pair-share concept is fantastic; I've been using the "alone-paired-large group" sequence for language learners in groups since I got my CELTA certification and it's been hugely successful. Nobody wants to be wrong in public, and when learners have a chance to discuss it with a partner first, they are more likely to share their ideas.

What do you think of these 15 characteristics? Do you agree? Add a note to the ones you question - and tell us why. Don't forget to look at the responses after the article!

They're fine...but huge to implement on a consistent basis: by 'huge' I mean both in terms of time, and space - to get one's head around them all conceptually. And it can also be a challenge for students to buy into the responsibility for their own leaning. HTML...yes, sometimes, in designing activities writhing my LMS. Blogging...no! Takes too much thought and self- confidence! Tweeting...yes! I love passing on items that have been helpful to me. And yes...II guess tweeting is providing glimpses of great PD resources. Now all I have to do is to go back to them in more depth.

Emily Landau, " Why Person-First Language Doesn't Always Put the Person First", Think Inclusive 7/20/2015: There are two main types of language used to refer disability: person-first language and what is known as identity-first language (IFL). PFL as a concept originated among people who wanted to fight back against stigma.

Sasha Long of The Autism Helper discusses the importance of educating children about disability diversity and offers actionable tips for fostering this awareness in children. Sasha currently teaches in a junior high autism classroom. Disability Diversity, Awareness, and Acceptance When we think about diversity education, our first thoughts are diversity of race, religion, and gender.