Week 3: Language Learning Online

This is an example of an in-class and in-course activity and program I have used in the past. LiveMocha. It's pretty cool. I would take a look at it if you are a language teacher. I'm open for comments and discussion. I'm always trying to improve...

Share Fair Activity Worksheet

 §  Target language: Spanish

§  Target student (age, level): Ages 15-18, Levels 1-4

§  Topic/Theme: Topic was having the students make plans with a native speaker to meet for coffee and discuss planning a surprise birthday party for their mutual friend.

§  Skill focus: The focus was primarily on conversational Spanish that would increase the student’s ability to improve lexical Spanish, syntactical Spanish, and phonology of Spanish.

§  Objective: Indiana Standards 3 and 4: COMMUNICATION: Learners interpret and present information to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics (presentational).

 

§  Time: 45 minutes total (5 minutes to plan a meeting place and time with native speaker; 40 minutes at a coffee shop speaking and listening with native speaker to plan the birthday party)

§  Software/Web address: www.livemocha.com

§  Procedure for the activity: The activity will require the student to listen to a simulated conversation with a native speaker of any given Hispanic country and the student must respond orally in context with the questions and conversation being observed. The students have the entire 45 minute class to complete this activity. This will allow them time to re-record themselves if they catch errors in speech.

§  Assessment (how will you know that students have learned?): I receive oral feedback from native speakers and teachers that work with LiveMocha who give the students ratings based on a grading rubric and overall impressions of the student’s ability to communicate in Spanish.

Week 2: Conceptual Meaning

I am researching for my personal graduate study and thesis on the comparison of Spanish curriculum as it is taught in Hispanic countries, as well as in Indiana. Today, I'm reading a book that I found very helpful in my research, but was also pleasantly surprised to find a whole chapter dedicated to CALL. The book is called "The Art of Teaching Spanish", edited by Salaberry & Lafford. The chapter is 7.0 Online Language Learning: The Case of Spanish Without Walls. Below is the link to purchase the book. It is also in the IU Wells Library. Also below is a couple of excerpts taken from the introduction to give an idea of what the research looks like:
Blake & Delforge
“Two factors dominate the recent interest in distance learning courses for foreign langauges: (1) their potential to make language education available to those who cannot attend traditional classes because of time constraints or geographical location, and (2) their capacity to provide increased access for the study of less commonly taught languages” (127).
“Recent innovations in computer technology, however, which include multimedia computer-assisted language learning (CALL) materials as well as the available of systems capable of supporting computer-mediated communication, make it possible for participants in online courses to engage in the active construction of L2 knowledge and to interact with one another in ways considered conducive to language learning” (127).
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Teaching-Spanish-Language-Acquisition/dp/1589011333/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435081385&sr=1-1&keywords=the+art+of+teaching+spanish

I'm excited to incorporate this into my own research, and it's great that I get to use this in both areas of my graduate work with coincidentally taking this CALL course over the summer. What a gem of an opportunity!

Has anyone else found helpful resources?

Week 1 - Warschauer (2004)

This week's reading regards how CALL could enhance the opportunity of language learning development in the classroom. This article was a great read and really innovative in the way of CALL in the classroom. It's a little eye-opening for a student like me who grew up in the 90s in primary school and the early 2000s for high school that was learning about this "internet" thing for the first time with millions of other global citizens.

I know how to use a textbook. I was taught how to use a textbook. I was taught how to use the glossary. Most of my students want to just pull out their phones and use the Word Reference app in class. I'm up to date for the most part on globalization and technology, but I'm still a nervous-nelly when it comes to integrating it into the classroom. I'm overall excited about it, but the nervous part comes from this fear that I have as a citizen and educator that takes pride in the way I was taught in schools and the character that I learned through it because of hard work. I never used Google in school growing up. Not once. Didn't even really start using it until like 2004 or something. I used encyclopedias and my teachers put me in groups that would have to look up resources the hard way. That taught character and it really paid off when we received the good grade.

Now part of me feels like students have so much access to anything and everything, that there is no incentive to work for it. If they can just use technology to give them the answer, will they retain it?

I was just chatting with my best friend over this same topic tonight at dinner. What if those of us born in the 80s, who grew up in the 90s and so forth just understand education in a different manner because of the way we were taught? Maybe I'm comfortable with the textbook because I understand it. Maybe my students are comfortable with technology in the classroom because they understand it, unlike textbooks.

Anticipatory Day Negative One

Class starts tomorrow. I have a preconceived notion regarding the course content and it happens to be that I am unsure what is to be expected. I have read the syllabus, understand the general point of the course, but am unversed on the WebQuest expectations, etc. I'm hoping that after this initial week of postings, discussions and the reading that I will have a better grip on the reality that is to be expected of me in this course.

I'm hoping that I will learn a lot more than I already realize about the topic of language learning online. I have taught an advanced course of Spanish using an online-generated program, and had overall success of completion, but low ratings with the course content itself. I am curious as to the teachings of our upcoming course.

Day (-1) Post - Senora H