This paper "summarize(s) theory and research on intercultural competence, paying particular attention to existing approaches and tools for its assessment. We also review examples of the assessment of intercultural competence in the specific contexts of general education and college foreign language and study abroad programs. [The authors] hope that these resources will provide a useful basis to foreign language (and other) educators as they seek to understand and improve the intercultural competencies of their students.

This is a publication of The Council of Europe, " The Council of Europe has a long and well established tradition of developing consensus on the aims and guiding principles of language teaching. Through its programmes of activities and publications it continues to pursue the development of language teaching to meet the needs of the contemporary world. Among its most recent initiatives in this tradition are the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages providing guidelines for teaching, learning and assessment, and the European Language Portfolio which allows learners to plan and reflect upon their learning, and to chart and describe their proficiency. There has also always been a concern to help teachers develop their theory and practice, for example by organising seminars and interaction networks and by publishing compendia which offer examples of good practice." This guide direct teachers to use language as a means to intercultural understanding.

This brief article teaches you 5 things you can do with the new editor built into YouTube

This article describes US culture seen through the eyes of an immaginary visitor to the country, as portrayed in US pop television programming. I am planning to discuss this with my students, and I thought I might piece together a youtube as "pre-reading" with some of the programming quoted in the article, if available.

"How can video clips embedded in multimedia presentations be used to improve learning in college courses? To answer this question, a review of the theoretical and research evidence on videos and the brain is presented first. That is followed by a description of the theory of multimedia learning as it relates to videos and a review of studies using videos over the past four decades in college courses. The results of these studies and the verbal and visual components of a video potentially provide a best fit to the characteristics of this Net Generation of students and a valid approach to tap their multiple intelligences and learning styles. Concrete guidelines are given for using available video technology in the classroom, selecting appropriate video clips for any class, and applying those clips as a systematic teaching tool. The use of clips can also attain 20 specific learning outcomes. Toward that end, 12 generic techniques with examples to integrate video clips into teaching across the college curriculum are described."

One way to save YouTube videos to your computer.

Academic paper with practical uses for YouTube and pedagogy supporting its use in the classroom. Also includes good links

A PowerPoint show highlighting several uses for YouTube in the FL classroom. Interesting links, some good ideas. Focused on Spanish

This is a quick reference, step by step directions...helpful for me after watching the Atomic Learning tutorial

If you are having trouble with You Tube features and functions, you might not be the problem. Here is a list of current site issues. I am having trouble with the video editor: it does not play the video in preview.

I was thrilled to be invited to present at the Social Media Workshop organized by the Language Acquisition Resource Center at San Diego State University. Here are the slides from today's presentation: You can download the handouts from the session here. Check out the recording of the session, too.

Abstract This presentation introduced Skype and how it can be used to: 1) connect teachers with other professionals - and save on long distance charges - even internationally 2) empower language teachers and tutors 3) give presentations and workshops 4) be a stepping stone to using more sophisticated technology in the classroom. It was noted that for those who are new to using technology in the language learning classroom, Skype is an effective way to experiment with technology, while minimizing the risk of things going wrong. Using Skype can help teachers improve their technology literacy and increase their confidence using technology in the language learning classroom. It provides an excellent stepping stone for those who are not entirely "fluent" with more sophisticated technologies.

If you're looking for a school or classroom for your students to partner with, there's no place like the World Wide Web. "People need to get out there and form an online presence," says high school French teacher Toni Theisen. There are online communities everywhere just waiting to be blasted with your callout for a sister classroom.

Skype is user-friendly, free video chat software that in recent years has become wildly popular for long-distance communication, be it with college students studying abroad who want to keep in contact with friends and family back in their home country or for international business correspondence.

Just think of a situation where you are on a vacation, travelling to a friends place and your boss calls you to create one urgent presentation. Later you realize that, your friend does not have office installed on his machine. Now when creating a presentation is seriosly a challenge for you, thats where an online office tools comes handy.

Ths You Tube shows step by step how to help students set up Google Accounts in order to use them for their classes.

The jackpot: this guide contains lots of links for practical applications of Twitter, Wikis, GoogleDocs, 3D virtual worlds etc...in the language classroom

This is a great idea if you want to show the world to your students using the Google Maps street view. Here the example shows how to integrate the street view with a language lesson, but one could easily use it for other disciplines (Social Studies, Literature, etc...)

See examples of how teachers from a variety of disciplines have used GoogleDocs in their classes.