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Isabelle Jones

Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom:: Morph your voice in Audacity - 0 views

joedale.typepad.com/...morph-your-voic.html

audacity mfl creativity Voki ideas

shared by Isabelle Jones on 29 Mar 09 - Cached
  • Isabelle Jones on 29 Mar 09
     
    Morph your voice in Audacity Did you know that by applying certain effects to your voice in Audacity , you can sound dramatically different and take on a character of your own. To do this, first highlight your vocal track and then follow the instructions below to generate each effect: 1. If you'd like to sound like ... a robot Click on the Effect Menu and then Delay ... Change the Decay amount to 10 Change the Delay time to 0.009 Change the Number of echos to 30 Click OK Click on the Effect Menu again Click Repeat Delay Repeat this 5 times or more if necessary Listen to this example: Download Creating_a_robot_voice_in_Audacity.mp3 2. If you'd like to sound like ... a demonic spirit Click on the Edit Menu and then Duplicate Highlight the second track Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ... Change the Semitone (half-steps) to -1 Click OK Highlight the first track Click on the Edit Menu and then Duplicate Highlight the third track Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ... Change the Semitone (half-steps) to -5 Click OK Click on the Effect Menu and then Bass Boost ... Click OK Drag the Gain slide on the left of the third track to +3DB Highlight the second track Click on the Effect Menu and then Echo ... Change the Delay time (seconds) to 0.1 Change the Decay factor to 0.6 Click OK Listen to this example: Download Creating_a_demonic_voice_in_Audacity.mp3 3. If you'd like to sound like ... a chipmunk Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ... Change the Percent Change to 100 Click OK Listen to this example: Download Creating_a_chipmunk_voice_in_Audacity.mp3 4. If you'd like to sound like ... a telephone operator Click o
Patrick Higgins

New Jersey Department of Education - 0 views

www.state.nj.us/...index.html

nj worldlanguage standards curriculum actfl levels

shared by Patrick Higgins on 12 Feb 09 - Cached
  • In Preschool, children are just beginning to learn about language and how it works. Exposure to multiple languages is advantageous for all children and can be supported by developmentally appropriate teaching practices that make use of songs, rhymes, and stories. In programs for beginning learners that offer appropriate time and frequency of instruction, students communicate at the Novice-Mid level using memorized language to talk about familiar topics related to school, home, and the community. After three-six years of study in programs offering the appropriate time and frequency of standards-based instruction, Novice-High through Intermediate-Mid level students communicate at the sentence level creating with language to ask and answer questions and to handle simple transactions related to everyday life and subject matter studied in other classes. After nine-twelve years of well articulated standards-based instruction, Intermediate-High through Advanced-Low level students communicate at the paragraph level and are able to handle complicated situations on a wide-range of topics.
  • Integration of technology within the CPIs necessitates its use as a tool in instruction and assessment.
  • Patrick Higgins on 12 Feb 09
     
    # In Preschool, children are just beginning to learn about language and how it works. Exposure to multiple languages is advantageous for all children and can be supported by developmentally appropriate teaching practices that make use of songs, rhymes, and stories. # In programs for beginning learners that offer appropriate time and frequency of instruction, students communicate at the Novice-Mid level using memorized language to talk about familiar topics related to school, home, and the community. # After three-six years of study in programs offering the appropriate time and frequency of standards-based instruction, Novice-High through Intermediate-Mid level students communicate at the sentence level creating with language to ask and answer questions and to handle simple transactions related to everyday life and subject matter studied in other classes. # After nine-twelve years of well articulated standards-based instruction, Intermediate-High through Advanced-Low level students communicate at the paragraph level and are able to handle complicated situations on a wide-range of topics.
Pamela Arraras

Foreign Language Teaching Wiki - Culture - 1 views

flteaching.wikispaces.com/Culture

virtualbackpacking culture intercultural

shared by Pamela Arraras on 22 Aug 09 - No Cached
  • The main exposure students had to the culture of the target language was through controlled interaction with native speakers in the classroom.
  • Language & culture are more naturally integrated in this approach. Culture instruction is connected to grammar instruction. Its main goal is to teach students how to use the target language when communicating in a cultural context
  • the following are other common approaches to teaching culture: (from Omaggio) The Frankenstein Approach: A taco from here, a flamenco dancer from there, a gaucho from here, a bullfight from there. The 4-F Approach: Folk dances, festivals, fairs and food. The Tour Guide Approach: The identification of monuments, rivers and cities. The "By-the-Way" Approach: Sporadic lectures or bits of behavior selected indiscriminately to emphasize sharp differences.
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • focusing a little more on similarities, instead of the differences, between cultures
  • Latorre believes that focusing on differences instead of on the similarities contributes to people misunderstanding other cultures, often thinking that the foreign cultures are "exotic," perhaps more exotic than they actually are. What Latorre suggests that any teacher of any foreign language should do is focus on the “true differential, the language [itself], rather than enlarging beyond proportion attitudes and activities which are either regional, outdated, or downright non-existent” (672).
  • one of the most important factors for success in learning a foreign language is the need for students to get involved in the learning process. The use of materials based on internet technologies offers many innovative ways of getting students involved in the process of learning a language. Students can get to know the target culture by means of interacting directly with native speakers via on-line communication, with mail exchanges or chatrooms.
  • From her point of view, it is crucial that the students can learn not only the language but also the diversity of the target culture. That is why, according to her, internet resources, such as newspapers and magazines, have a great importance, since they provide students with authentic and current information that can help them understand the target culture. Reading on-line newspapers makes students aware of current social phenomena.
  • According to Lee, recent studies have proved that internet resources can help students improve their language skills in a similar way to full immersion or study abroad, although are based basically on written communication. Besides, this use of on-line resources are more beneficial to students at the advanced level because they require a high level of language proficiency to read, comprehend, and respond to cultural readings, for example, newspapers.
  • The most important part of Stern's research involves his 3-level framework of foreign culture pedagogy: teaching social sciences, applying theory/research, and their practical applications in the classroom. In the 1990s, Stern's cultural/communication mix evolved from describing sociocultural contexts of second language/foreign language to contexts of competence in second culture acquisition (not just language acquisition). This is the first time that cultural pedagogy and social sciences had been paired.
  • In H.H. Stern's breakthrough 1983 study "Fundamental concepts of language Teaching," there are concepts of day-to-day culture and customs that should be used in the classroom. Stern uses a four component model including a 'cultural syllabus' for culture teaching.
  • Foreign language (FL) teachers should make culture more of a central role in the class FL teachers should throw out teaching culture in terms of isolated facts FL teachers should have an awareness of the past on the present within any culture without focusing too much on the past FL teachers should be aware of cognitive and affective influences on the students FL teachers should engage students as active participants FL teachers should teach culture in such a way that students can be cross-cultural here and abroad Given that the teacher’s assumptions about how language and lang learning affect how he or she teaches lang and culture, the approach should aim for communicative competence (that is, real communication)
  • Tang discussed the use of performance-based theory developed by Walker (2000) who suggests that culture could be better taught if done through simulated social interactions in the classroom, for example hosting a guest or accepting a gift. This serves to create a “default memory” within the student's mind that will help him perform in the target culture without drawing conclusions or using as a reference his own base culture which could lead to misunderstandings.
  • Tang also discourages the pure instruction of behavioral culture in the classroom and says that to perform effectively in a target culture one must not only be able to master it linguistically, be familiar with its artifacts, norms and rituals but also with the meaning system, or the hidden significance underlying these. This is why she believes that Walker's performance-based theory can only work properly if the true meaning system underlying the simulated situations and interations created in the classroom are internalized by the students.
  • the Three P's, into three separate categories: cultural perspectives, cultural products, and cultural practices. Cultural perspectives are the values, beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions shared within a culture. Cultural products are things such as literature, music, art, or even utensils such as chopsticks; tangible items that are linked to a certain culture. Cultural practices are the acceptable behavioral patterns, forms of discourse, and rites of passage within a specific culture.
  • the goals are that students "demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied," which means that we should encourage the students to understand why other cultures do what they do and what the members of that culture think about the reasons behind what they do. In addition, the students should come to an understanding of "the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied." This means that we should enlighten the students on what members of other cultures do and what these peoples' own opinions are about what they do. Moreover, culture should be starting point for all classroom education. In keeping with the 5 C's, culture is used to make comparisons and connections about communities and in doing so students can have meaningful communication within those communties.
  • According to Omaggio: Culture is complex and elusive and is difficult to include in linear instructional formats. Culture requires time that many teachers feel that do not have. Teachers avoid culture because of their own perceived lack of knowledge. Culture often requires both teacher and learner to move beyond their level of comfort when confronted with deeper, sometimes controversial issues. When teaching languages that are spoken in many different countries, e.g., Spanish, where are the cultural boundaries? Balancing Big C with Little C.
  • Strategies, techniques, and tools for teaching culture in the classroom
Claude Almansi

Theatre of sleep - an anthology of literary dreams by Guido Almansi and Claud... - 0 views

ia301533.us.archive.org/...theatre_of_sleep_01.html

Theatre of Sleep almansi béguin dreams literature multilingual

shared by Claude Almansi on 22 Jun 09 - Cached
    • Claude Almansi
      Claude Almansi on 22 Jun 09
       
      Inded. I'm marking them with these Diigo notes, and will be very grateful if others do the same.
  • I probably left many mistakes
    • Claude Almansi
      Claude Almansi on 22 Jun 09
       
      Indeed. I am marking them with these Diigo comments, and will be very grateful if others do the same.
  • in cross-references, the inner link to the cross-referenced text has been added
    • Claude Almansi
      Claude Almansi on 22 Jun 09
       
      rephrase more clearly
  • ...51 more annotations...
  • And he enjoyed the possibility to write and rewrite and re-rewrite with it.
    • Claude Almansi
      Claude Almansi on 22 Jun 09
       
      Rephrase?
  • is given
    • Claude Almansi
      Claude Almansi on 22 Jun 09
       
      is given. (add the period)
  • LEncyclopédie
    • Claude Almansi
      Claude Almansi on 22 Jun 09
       
      L'Encyclopédie
  • copyright q:)
    • Claude Almansi
      Claude Almansi on 22 Jun 09
       
      copyright ©
  • copyright Ç
  • die disturbing
  • bc die only
  • at die table
  • what arc their causes
  • Dreams arc what we know nothing about
  • but we arc at liberty
  • We arc giving
  • arc formless little black lumps
  • But the what problem
  • the world turns half away/ Through
  • writes the American poet Elizabeth Bishop in a poem included in this anthology
  • What does this translation entai]
  • just like the interpretations by Freud orjung
  • the ear of man hadi not seen
  • skin, eves, ears, nose, tongue
  • We said that a dream could bc a descent
  • Of course dreams of flying can also bc symbolic
  • which could bc due to the continuous curving
  • bc th4 his own or society's
  • to bc crushed mashed and mushed
  • another example would bc the mine
  • in Zola's Genrmina
  • In Dante's Hell
  • 0.1 Electronic version
  • the dream "1"
  • Hervey SaintDenis
  • what kind of symbols would they bc
  • I fortuned on a day to goc thither,
  • to make mv market there
  • as'it often
  • by the decree of the Provinciall judge-.
  • 0Omy friend Aristomenus
  • we might bc merry and laugh
  • Bt I becing in such extremity
  • being an old man atid one
  • whieh she useth in a certaine hole i ' n her house
  • yea rather with great fcare
  • But I wanted to sec
  • But I not willing to sec
  • to sec how of Aristomenus I
  • snafl
  • And whfle I lay on the ground
  • I peeped under the bed to sec
  • I shall bc forsaken
  • and hadi seene all our doings
  • Behold, I sec Socrates is sound
  • Claude Almansi on 22 Jun 09
     
    This is an "0.1" version because electronic texts are far easier to amend than printed books, and so they must be. And this version will need to be: on the one hand, scanning and OCRing (see Formal Features below) is a stupendous possibility, but it is not totally reliable, and even if I proof-read the electronic text, I probably left many mistakes. On the other hand, I hope to be able in future to reinsert some of the texts under copyright for which I haven't obtained yet a renewal of the permissions given for the print edition (see Copyright and Content below). However, the deadline of the Google Book Search Settlement for asking Google to pull out their own, inacceptable, electronic version made it imperative to publish this one quickly.
  • Claude Almansi on 22 Jun 09
     
    This electronic version of "Theatre of Sleep - Dreams in Literature " is multilingual, because it uses the original texts when they were in the public domain and the translation was copyrighted. It was made by scanning and OCRing the book, which left many mistakes even if I proofread the result of the OCR (Optical Character Recognition). I am correcting them in the Diigo comments, and would be very grateful to others who would do the same.
Isabelle Jones

When do people learn languages? - 0 views

www.zompist.com/whylang.html

languages learning promotion reference resources

shared by Isabelle Jones on 07 Aug 08 - Cached
  • eflclassroom 2.0 on 07 Aug 08
     
    Advice for language learners General warning: what follows may or may not apply to you. It's based on what linguistics knows about people in general (but any general advice will be ludicrously inappropriate for some people) and on my own experience (but you're not the same as me). If you have another way of learning that works, more power to you. Given the discussion so far, the prospects for language learning may seem pretty bleak. It seems that you'll only learn a language if you really need to; but the fact that you haven't done so already is a pretty good indication that you don't really need to. How to break out of this paradox? At the least, try to make the facts of language learning work for you, not against you. Exposure to the language, for instance, works in your favor. So create exposure. * Read books in the target language. * Better yet, read comics and magazines. (They're easier, more colloquial, and easier to incorporate into your weekly routine.) * Buy music that's sung in it; play it while you're doing other things. * Read websites and participate in newsgroups that use it. * Play language tapes in your car. If you have none, make some for yourself. * Hang out in the neighborhood where they speak it. * Try it out with anyone you know who speaks it. If necessary, go make new friends. * Seek out opportunities to work using the language. * Babysit a child, or hire a sitter, who speaks the language. * Take notes in your classes or at meetings in the language. * Marry a speaker of the language. (Warning: marry someone patient: some people want you to know their language-- they don't want to teach it. Also, this strategy is tricky for multiple languages.) Taking a class can be effective, partly for the instruction, but also because you can meet others who are learning the language, and because, psychologically, classes may be needed to make us give the subject matter time and attention. Self-study is too eas
Joel Josephson

Folk Songs of Europe http://folkdc.eu/ - 4 views

soundcloud.com/...folk-songs-of-europe

Folk music Europe

shared by Joel Josephson on 24 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Joel Josephson on 24 Aug 12
     
    Folk music in many European languages http://folkdc.eu/ The Digital Children's Folksongs for Language and Cultural Learning (Folk DC) project is a European Union project designed to motivate young language learners to engage with language learning through using Folk songs, and activities around the songs. The songs are in 10 European languages (Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Turkish). The project will be producing a complete package for schools (Autonomous Teacher Training Tool kit - ATTT) so that schools all over Europe can take part in the project. The project culminates in a simultaneous, live concert in 5 countries, streamed over the Internet to audiences all over Europe. School choirs will sing folk songs in non-native languages that will be streamed to the other concert venues and also made available to an Internet audience. Schools can take part in this project by: Using the resources produced by the project Suggesting your own language, culture and music activities, inspired by the project Watching the live concert (at the venue or online) - see how you can join Adding folk songs of your language - see the project Wiki You can ask more information about how you can take part here. The project will introduce an understanding of the number, richness and culture of other languages when children start to learn a foreign language and begin to understand the meaning of additional languages. It will engage children in fascinating and engaging activities that will resonate in to the future and answer the need for materials that can directly engage and motivate children to enjoy their learning.
Joel Bennett

Social Media is Here to Stay... Now What? - 0 views

www.danah.org/...MSRTechFest2009.html

Development WebDesign SocialNetworking Twitter Research SocialMedia

shared by Joel Bennett on 18 Mar 09 - Cached
  • Social media is driven by another buzzword: "user-generated content" or content that is contributed by participants rather than editors.
  • I'm going to share my research in three acts: 1) How did social media - and social network sites in particular - gain traction in the US? And how should we think about network effects? 2) What are some core differences between how teens leverage social media and how adults engage with these same tools? 3) How is social media reconfiguring social infrastructure and where is all of this going?
  • Facebook was narrated as the "safe" alternative and, in the 2006-2007 school year, a split amongst American teens occurred. Those college-bound kids from wealthier or upwardly mobile backgrounds flocked to Facebook while teens from urban or less economically privileged backgrounds rejected the transition and opted to stay with MySpace while simultaneously rejecting the fears brought on by American media. Many kids were caught in the middle and opted to use both, but the division that occurred resembles the same "jocks and burnouts" narrative that shaped American schools in the 1980s.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • over 35% of American adults have a profile on a social network site
  • many adults have jumped in, but what they are doing there is often very different than what young people are doing.
  • Teens are much more motivated to talk only with their friends and they learned a harsh lesson with social network sites. Even if they are just trying to talk to their friends, those who hold power over them are going to access everything they wrote if it's in public
  • while you can replicate a conversation, it's much easier to alter what's been said than to confirm that it's an accurate portrayal of the original conversation.
  • 1. Invisible Audiences. We are used to being able to assess the people around us when we're speaking. We adjust what we're saying to account for the audience. Social media introduces all sorts of invisible audiences.
  • Social media brings all of these contexts crashing into one another and it's often difficult to figure out what's appropriate
  • Joel Bennett on 18 Mar 09
     
    1) How did social media - and social network sites in particular - gain traction in the US? And how should we think about network effects? 2) What are some core differences between how teens leverage social media and how adults engage with these same tools? 3) How is social media reconfiguring social infrastructure and where is all of this going?
Andrew Graff

TPR Foreign Language Instruction and Dyslexia - 2 views

www.dyslexia.com/...tprlanguage.htm

dyslexia foreign language TPR TPRS CIinstruction lessonplanning differentiation

shared by Andrew Graff on 16 Jul 11 - Cached
  • For language teachers, this accepted presumption of incapacity is a huge hurdle, because it keeps many children and adults from even dipping a toe into the language pool!
  • TPR was and is a wonderful way to turn that presumption on its head and show the learner that, not only can we learn, but under the right circumstances, it's fun!
  • When we are infants our exposure to language is virtually inseparable from physical activities. People talk to us while tickling us, feeding us, changing our diapers... We are immersed in a language we don't speak, in an environment that we explore with every part of our body. Our parents and caregivers literally walk and talk us through activities - for example, we learn lots of vocabulary while someone stands behind us at the bathroom sink, soaping our hands until they're slippery, holding them under warm water, rubbing or scrubbing, all the while talking about what we're doing and what it feels like. In this way, movement and feeling are intimately tied to the process of internalizing the language.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • Classes are active - you are not in your seat all period. The focus for the first weeks is on listening and moving in response to what the teacher says.
  • There is heavy emphasis on listening comprehension, because the larger your listening comprehension vocabulary is, the larger your speaking vocabulary will become.
  • Lots of language is learned in happy circumstances, especially while you're having fun.
  • In a TPR class, grammar and syntax are not taught directly. Rather, the teacher designs activities that expose the student to language in context, especially in the context of some kind of movement.
  • I'm asked with some regularity about appropriate foreign language instruction for students with a dyslexic learning or thinking style. I'm quick to recommend finding a school or program that includes - or even better - relies on TPR as its principal instructional strategy.
  • Typically, the initial TPR lessons are commands involving the whole body - stand up, sit down, turn around, walk, stop.
  • Fairly soon, the teacher quietly stops demonstrating, and the students realize that they somehow just know what to do in response to the words.
  • You're also encouraged to trust your body, because sometimes it knows what to do before your brain does!
  • As class proceeds, nouns, adverbs, prepositions are added until before you know it, students are performing commands like, 'Stand up, walk to the door, open it, stick your tongue out, close the door, turn around, hop to Jessica's desk, kiss your right knee four times, and lie down on Jessica's desk."
  • It's just that the instruction is designed to facilitate language acquisition, not learning a language through analysis, memorization and application of rules.
  • But consider your native language: you did not need to learn the grammar and syntax of your native language in order to learn to speak it. You learned those structures, unconsciously as you learned to speak.
  • The first is that in a TPR classroom, the focus is not on analysis of linguistic structures, but on internalizing those structures for unconscious use.
  • When we use TPR strategies to teach, our goal is truly to be able to understand, speak, read and write the language, not "about" the language.
  • I think this creativity, the synthetic rather than analytic experience, the low stress, and generally accepting environment engineered by the teacher, are a large part of the reason so many students, including students with learning challenges, find TPR classes so effective and enjoyable.
  • Within these real experiences, students are free to generate all kinds of expressions using the language they're studying, and to lead instruction in unique directions.
Stéphane Métral

What are your favourite tools to teach or learn languages ? - 290 views

Bonjour, I teach French to foreigners recently arrived in Geneva. We have 2 Mac in class in a computer room with a PC for each student I use a blog to make my students write and t...

languages teaching tools

started by Isabelle Jones on 07 Jun 08 6 follow-ups, last by Stéphane Métral on 22 Feb 09
Mariangeles Romero

Valentine's Day Worksheets, Vocabulary, Exercises, Teaching Resources and Activities - 10 views

www.esolcourses.com/...valentines-day.html

San Valentín valentines

shared by Mariangeles Romero on 03 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • Mariangeles Romero on 03 Feb 13
     
    Games and activities about Valentine's Day for English language students and kids - printable and online word searches, crosswords, vocabulary, grammar, reading and listening activities, song quizzes, games and other lesson resources. Browse our site for hundreds more free English language printables and quizzes for English students and young learners.
Maggie Verster

Best Sites to Find Public Domain Images and Sounds for Student Projects | audio public-... - 0 views

mrssmoke.onsugar.com/3152550

music photos creativecommons school2.0 fairuse images clipart

shared by Maggie Verster on 12 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Maggie Verster on 12 Jun 09
     
    Now that more and more classrooms are publishing student work for digital storytelling, podcasting, or through wikis and blogs it is becoming increasingly critical students follow the copyright and fair use guidelines. To help you and your students, I've created another freebie post - free images and sounds for student projects. Yes, there are multiple websites out there for public domain images and sounds, but I tried to pull those that are safe for student searching. You will find glorious photo landscapes, character illustrations of fairy tale characters, tornado sound effects, and more.
Nergiz Kern

Eyejot - the easiest way to send video - 14 views

www.eyejot.com

video audio message email web2.0 efl esl elt teaching technology apple mac pc

shared by Nergiz Kern on 21 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Nergiz Kern on 21 Oct 09
     
    Video Mail in a Blink! It's fun, it's easy and there's nothing to install Flash-based so no download and for Mac and PC. Free account allows for one-minute messages. Message receivers don't have to sign up to watch the message it seems. That's good. Teachers can send message to students and encourage them to continue and reply. This is especially nice for online learners and teachers. Students can send each other messages to practise speaking and listening. Speaking for a minute is probably not that scary :)
  • eflclassroom 2.0 on 22 Oct 09
     
    I agree and have used eyejot quite a bit. They've made it more friendly in the past year. But the friendliest way to encourage students is to use Bubblejoy. http://www.bubblejoy.com/intro.php Pick an interesting ecard/frame your students will love! David http://eflclassroom.com
  • Nergiz Kern on 22 Oct 09
     
    Thanks for this, David! It never hurts to have options.
James OReilly

Google Translation Center: The World's Largest Translation Memory - GigaOM - 0 views

gigaom.com/...lds-largest-translation-memory

shared by James OReilly on 05 Aug 08 - Cached
  • Google is preparing to launch Google Translation Center
  • This is an interesting move, and it has broad implications for the translation industry, which up until now has been fragmented and somewhat behind the times, from a technology standpoint
  • Google has been investing significant resources in a multi-year effort to develop its statistical machine translation technology.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Google Translation Center is a straightforward and very clever way to gather a large corpus of parallel texts to train its machine translation systems.
  • If Google releases an API for the translation management system, it could establish a de facto standard for integrated machine translation and translation memory, creating a language platform around which projects like Der Mundo can build specialized applications and collect more training data.
  • On the other hand, GTC could be bad news for translation service bureaus — especially those that use proprietary translation management systems as a way to hold customers and translators hostage.
  • For freelancers, GTC could be very good news; they could work directly with clients and have access to high quality productivity tools. Overall this is a welcome move that will force service providers to focus on quality, while Google, which is competent at software, can focus on building tools.
  • That strategy would also eliminate a potential conflict of interest
  • translation professionals are understandably wary of contributing to something that could put them out of work
  • as well as avoid channel conflicts with partners who will be their best advocates in selling to various clients
  • my guess is Google will make this a free tool for the translation industry to use, and it will figure the money part out later. It can afford to be patient
  • I remain convinced that a multilingual web will be a reality in a short time, and that a menagerie of tools and services will emerge over the next few years — some geared toward helping translators, some toward building translation communities, and others that make publishing multilingual sites and blogs easy and intuitive.
  • the web will begin translating itself, and within a short time
Rob McTaggart

Chinese Tools - Online tools to learn chinese - 0 views

www.chinesetools.eu

audio calligraphy china chinese dictionary handwriting language pinyin simplified stroke traditional translation translator worksheet writing

shared by Rob McTaggart on 08 Jun 08 - Cached
Rob McTaggart liked it
  • Chinese Order Stroke
    • Rob McTaggart
      Rob McTaggart on 08 Jun 08
       
      Great for IWB's!
  • Hand Writing Recognition
    • Rob McTaggart
      Rob McTaggart on 08 Jun 08
       
      This is a good way for students to check if their Chinese writing is legible. If the computer can't guess at what it may be, maybe they need to keep working at it. Built for success and great for interactive whiteboards.
  • Chinese Annotation Tool
    • Rob McTaggart
      Rob McTaggart on 08 Jun 08
       
      This tool takes a sentence in Chinese (not pinyin unfortunately) and gives an English or French translation for every word individually. Very good for breaking up sentences into small parts, for analysing word-order and for students to check their writing.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Chinese Annoted News
    • Rob McTaggart
      Rob McTaggart on 08 Jun 08
       
      Great for more advanced students. This site gives small news stories and any word that is hovered over is translated into pinyin and English.
  • Chinese Dictionary NEW
    • Rob McTaggart
      Rob McTaggart on 08 Jun 08
       
      This is one of the best Chinese-English dictionaries on the internet, when you consider that so many of the words have audio and an animation of the stroke order for writing.
  • Rob McTaggart on 08 Jun 08
     
    This is a fantastic resource for any classroom learning Chinese or about China. The dictionary pinyin with tones as well as simplified and traditional writing, an animation of the order stroke for many words and audio of how the word should be spoken. There is also other resources such as practice sheets for writing, a translator, and other stuff for kids and the classroom.
Barbara Lindsey

News: The Web of Babel - Inside Higher Ed - 1 views

www.insidehighered.com/...each_students_foreign_language

twitter language learning2.0 pln cop

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 12 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Some adventurous professors have used Twitter as a teaching tool for at least a few years. At a presentation at Educause in 2009, W. Gardner Campbell, director of the academy of teaching and learning at Baylor University, extolled the virtues of allowing students to pose questions to the professor and each other — an important part of the thinking and learning process — without having to raise their hands to do so immediately and aloud. And in November, a group of professors published a scientific paper suggesting that bringing Twitter into the learning process might boost student engagement and performance.
  • But while Lomicka and her tech-forward peers are not advocating that every college go the way of Chapel Hill, they are finding out that some relatively novel teaching technologies that are used by academics of all stripes, such as Twitter and iTunes U, are particularly useful for teaching languages.
  • At Emory University, language instructional content is far and away the biggest export of its public repository on iTunes U, where visitors from around the world have downloaded more than 10 million files since Emory opened the site in 2007.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Language content makes up about 95 percent of the downloads from the Emory iTunes U site.
  • the most popular content is audio and video files that were originally developed not for a general audience, but by professors as supplements to college-level coursework,
  • Because language demonstrations often require audio and sometimes video components (e.g., tutorials on how to write in a character-based alphabet), and students often like to practice while on the move, iTunes is in many ways an ideal vehicle for language-based instructional content.
  • what we do offer is an online supplement that enhances what happens both in the classroom and in foreign study in the culture — and it is always there as a resource for our students, because it’s online.”
Maggie Verster

Class Collection of Book Reviews using collaborative google spreadsheets - 0 views

docs.google.com/View

lessonplans languages english google googledocs library2.0 school2.0

shared by Maggie Verster on 17 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Maggie Verster on 17 Jul 09
     
    As part of a language arts or reading program, students read novels throughout the school year. Some of the novels are assigned, read, and discussed "all class." Others are chosen by the students individually, and they keep individual reading lists. Students may be required to read a certain number per marking period, per school year, and over the summer. Some may be classics; other trade novels, but all contribute to the overall reading and comprehension abilities of the students. This unit can be done as a culminating activity for the school year. Students are asked to choose their two favorite novels from the ones they have read. They write reviews and post them online for students in their own school, in other schools, across the United States, and in other countries to read. The student reviews not only help student readers clarify their own understanding of literature, they also provide a "student-to-student" resource. Other students can choose novels based on opinions of their peers. The students review the novels, write descriptions that will appeal to other readers, and indicate the level of reading difficulty. They do this to help others choose novels suitable for their reading levels.
Michèle Drechsler

Socialbookmarking and Education. A survey that could interest you - 12 views

Hello About the survey : http://enquetes-education.net/limesurvey/index.php?sid=28793〈=en Please note that this survey is usually taken in 20 minutes, but you can save your partial answers with...

survey socialbookmarking

started by Michèle Drechsler on 08 Jul 09 1 follow-up, last by Michèle Drechsler on 11 Jul 09
Martin Burrett

Webinar: Supporting Special Needs Students with eBooks & Audiobooks - 5 views

ukedchat.com/...webinar-sen-ebooks-audiobooks

ebooks ebook audiobooks audio reading engagement

shared by Martin Burrett on 04 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • Martin Burrett on 04 Jun 21
     
    In this webinar, expert in eBooks Meredith Wemhoff discusses ways to engage and support learners with special needs using eBooks and audio. Using the case-study of an independent all-boys school located in Surrey, the school provides special needs students an opportunity to succeed and thrive. Many arrive to the 80-year-old institution with low self-confidence, often due to struggles they faced in traditional educational institutions caused by learning and language difficulties. This means providing a collection that meets the individual learning needs of the school's 470 students, who range in age from 8-18. ​​​​​​​ During this eye-opening webinar, Meredith will share the story of selecting, launching and promoting a digital library service that helps address learning challenges. Attendees will come away with best practices for bringing ebooks and audiobooks to their school and real-life examples of these practices in action. Don't miss out, register today!
Claude Almansi

"Inspiring+ People - Chloe Cohen" | Universal Subtitles - 4 views

www.universalsubtitles.org/...inspiring-people-chloe-cohen

universal subtitles music captioning musiccaptioning Cohen music MS

shared by Claude Almansi on 25 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Claude Almansi on 25 Mar 12
     
    "Each week, we will be interviewing people who are truly inspiring. They come from all over the world, and have overcome obstacles that make life that much harder. Their stories are inspirational, and allow us to be grateful for what we have in life. "Many people have come to see disease as a gift in their lives. Often, they learn that they are more than their disease, and once freed by that certainty they go on to live the rest of the story." This week, we interviewed Chloe Cohen. A truly inspiring woman who has been dealing with Multiple Sclerosis for many years. Chloe's inner strength and determination to help her deal with MS allows us to realize that their is hope for everyone. I feel honored to be able to share Chloe's story with everyone, and I hope it gives you as much enjoyment as it has given to me. Women like Chloe are hard to come by. Too many of us give up before we even try, especially, when suffering from a disease such as MS. Chloe's openness and willingness to share her story with all of us is amazing."
  • Claude Almansi on 25 Mar 12
     
    English captioning in progress - - anyone wishing to join?
Barbara Lindsey

Education Week: Science Grows on Acquiring New Language - 6 views

www.edweek.org/...09window_ep.h30.html

language learning brain research advocacy

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 26 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • For example, when babies born to native-English-speaking parents played three times a week during that window with a native-Mandarin-speaking tutor, at 12 months, they had progressed in their ability to recognize both English and Mandarin sounds, rather than starting to retrench in the non-native language. By contrast, children exposed only to audio or video recordings of native speakers showed no change in their language trajectory. Brain-imaging of the same children backed up the results of test-based measures of language specialization.
  • The research may not immediately translate into a new language arts curriculum, but it has already deepened the evidence for something most educators believe instinctively: Social engagement, particularly with speakers of multiple languages, is critical to language learning.
  • “The key to that series of studies is exposure and live interactions with native speakers,” Ms. Lebedeva said. “The interactions need to be naturalistic: eye contact, gestures, exaggerated phonemes.”
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • “Human brains are wired to learn best in social interactions, whether that learning is about language or problem-solving or emotion,” Ms. Lebedeva said, “but language is such a ubiquitous human behavior that studying it gives us an example of how more general learning takes place.”
  • at the science-oriented Ultimate Block Party held in New York City this month, children of different backgrounds played games in which they were required to sort toys either by shape or color, based on a rule indicated by changing flashcards. A child sorting blue and yellow ducks and trucks by shape, say, might suddenly have to switch to sorting them by color. The field games exemplified research findings that bilingual children have greater cognitive flexibility than monolingual children. That is, they can adapt better than monolingual children to changes in rules—What criteria do I use to sort?—and close out mental distractions—It doesn’t matter that some blue items are ducks and some are trucks.
  • Barbara Lindsey on 26 Oct 10
     
    researchers long thought the window for learning a new language shrinks rapidly after age 7 and closes almost entirely after puberty. Yet interdisciplinary research conducted over the past five years at the University of Washington, Pennsylvania State University, and other colleges suggest that the time frame may be more flexible than first thought and that students who learn additional languages become more adaptable in other types of learning, too.
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