Using Podcasting in ESL Classrooms

      With the development of technology and social media, podcasting becomes more and more popular since everyone who has a computer and gets connected with the Internet can make their own podcasting. In addition, with podcasting, people are no longer limited by the showtime since they are able to download their favorite shows into their computers and MP3 players; therefore, they can watch or listen to the shows as much as they want at anytime or anywhere.

      These features of podcasting also encourages the use of podcasting in learning and teaching, especially in language learning classrooms. I choose one episode of podcasting for ESL learning, ESL Podcast 1093 - Having a Picnic, which is available at ESL Pod. This website can be considered as a good resource for both language teachers and students to teach and learn English. The episode I choose is a daily conversation between two friends who go to have a picnic together. After listening to this episode, I find that I can have this episode in my future teaching. For example, I am able to use this episode as a warm-up activity when the topic of my teaching is about picnic, and this will meet for the following learning objectives:

SWBAT

1. Develop their listening skills, especially everyday English rather than academic English.

(The speed of this conversation is slow, so this would be appropriate and helpful for low level students who need to improve their listening skills)

2. Learn some new vocabulary which is related to their daily life, such as picnic, champagne, and lavish. 

3. Get to know some American culture. For example, in this episode, the two people mention what food do they have for the picnic, this may be different from students who live in a different cultural background.

      Additionally, I would like to help my students improve their speaking or writing skills through encouraging them to come with their own ideas for preparing their favorite picnic after listening to this episode. For example, it seems possible to encourage students to work in pairs and have a role play which is related to the topic of picnic. Also, I am able to encourage students to write a paragraph or journal to describe what do they like to bring for a picnic. 

Creating Comic Strips

      Creating comic strips is another interesting and effective way for students to learn something, especially language students who intend to learn a foreign language. There are some Internet tools which can be easily used by both teachers and students to create their own comic strips, for example, the website Strip Generator is a good choice. Through the Strip Generator, students will be able to use ready-made characters and items, and they are also free to choose their favorite frames for their strips. In addition, registration is not required, so this Internet tool is really convenient and effective.

      I have created my first comic strip, How Can I Help You, through the Strip Generator. I find that this website is really easy to use since I am able to pick up comic frames, characters, and items which are already provided. Additionally, I could add dialogues in my strip if I need. These features are helpful for not only language students but also language teachers. In my future teaching, I would like to use this website and encourage my students to create their own comic strips which are based on some topics. For example, if the lesson is about buying things, I will be able to encourage my students to use some vocabulary and sentence structures to create their comic strips. Through this way, students will feel more interesting to practice what they have learned; at the same time, students are encouraged to be more creative.

Performance Indicator-ESL.E.PK-1.2.1

Students learning English as a second language will use English for self-expression, artistic creation, and participation in popular culture. They will develop and use skills and strategies appropriate to their level of English proficiency to listen to, read, and response to oral, written, and electronically produced texts and performance, relate texts and performances to their own lives and other works, and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent.

      In order to assess students' creations, encouraging students to orally tell the story or actor out their comic strips can be an effective and meaningful method. Through this method, for teachers, we will be able to see that if students have mastered what they have learned in the class, such as vocabulary, sentence structures, or even cultural contexts; for students, they will be benefit from this method since they are provided an opportunity to practice orally. In addition, this "act out" activity will enlighten their participation.

Using Photo Stories to Teach English

      For both regular and flipped language classrooms, it is important to include various resources and different activities during the language class. Especially in our modern society, with the rapid development of technology, language learning can be developed through various resources rather than just based on textbooks. Using videos to create photo stories is considered as one effective and meaningful way to teach a foreign language. 

      For many language teachers, one way of having videos in the class is to create videos which are related to the topic by themselves. There are several Internet tools that can be used to create videos, for example, Animoto can be a good choice. Through Animoto, a language teacher is able to create a free video by adding pictures, music, and texts.

      I tried Animoto and used it to create a 30-second photo stroy, English Vocabulary for Clothes. I added six pictures that showed different clothes in my video, and I had a sentence which included clothes vocabulary for each scene. Through this short video, I believe that students will be well informed with vocabulary, especially some visual learners.

      In addition, I would like to encourage my students to create their own photo stories by using this Internet tool. For example, I could encourage my students to record the weather of each day by taking pictures. And then, after a week, students may be encouraged to create their videos which are based on the topic of weekly weather by adding some weather vocabulary and sentences in their videos.

Performance Indicator-ESL.E.2-4.1.1

Students learning English as a second language will use English to acquire, interpret, apply and transmit information for content area learning and personal use. They will develop and use skills and strategies appropriate to their level of English proficiency to collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts.

      In order to assess students creations, it seems reasonable to encourage students to give a short presentation. For example, it is possible to invite students to share their photo stories in the class and encourage them to describe their photo stories through the presentation. Therefore, as a teacher, I will be able to check if students have mastered these related vocabulary, and how they use these vocabulary in their daily life.

My TED Ed Class

      TED Ed is a meaningful Internet tool which provides a number of speeches that are delivered by people from different fields. Through this TED Ed, I created my first online class for ESL students. I chose the video "The World's English Mania" by Jay Walker in 2009.

      My objectives of this video lesson are:

1. To help students develop their abilities on listening to details

2. To help students develop their abilities on listening to and comprehending the main idea of the video

3. To provide students some background knowledge on English learning

4. To encourage students to further develop their abilities on critical thinking

     In order to assess if these objectives have been met, firstly, I would like to ask my students to answer questions which are provided in my TED Ed class after they watching the video. There are two multiple questions in the Think section, one is to assess if students are able to listen to details, and the other is to see if students have comprehended the main idea of this video. In addition, through the last Discuss section, I will be able to see students' own opinion on this topic which could indicate students' development on both comprehension and critical thinking, and what they have learned about English learning through this video. 

      Except these questions, I would like to encourage students to share their discussion for the Discuss section with their neighbors or even the whole class during the class time. Moreover, I believe that it would be effective if I offer some in class activities, for example, I could encourage each student to think of three sentences that are based on this video. One of these three questions should be wrong, and the other two should be right ones. And then other students will be encouraged to decide which is the wrong sentence, and which are right. Through this activity, students will be encouraged to recall the video as detailed as they can, therefore, I will be able to see if they have developed their abilities on listening to details.

Changes and Challenges: The flipped classroom

      I believe for most of us, it is not unfamiliar to come up with some key features of the traditional classroom, such as attending the class, taking notes, and completing assignments since most of us have experienced the traditional classroom for a long time. As the article Flipping Your EL Classroom: A primer notes, many students feel confident in the classroom while facing difficulties and confusions outside the classroom. It is reasonable to consider this as a common problem that many students will encounter since in a traditional classroom, students are usually play the role of receivers which indicates that they may passively accept the knowledge and information.

      In order to help students build their confidence and learn more effectively, a concept of "flipping your classroom" has been brought up. It refers to a kind of new classroom - students prepare for the class outside the classroom, bring their homework to the class, and then complete their homework in the classroom, which could be considered as the opposite of our traditional classroom. 

      The videos plays an important role in the flipped classroom since students are provided with instructions through videos outside the classroom. In the article Flipping Your EL Classroom: A primer, the author talks about two main resources of videos: existing videos and creating videos. There are many good Internet tools that teachers are able to use to find some existing videos that are related to the class, such as YouTube, TED-ed, and TeacherTube. Also, teachers are able to create some videos as instructional videos for their students.

      Through the flipped classroom, students are not only encouraged to develop their ability of self-learning but also the ability of collaborative learning since students are also encouraged to work in pairs or groups in the classroom to complete their assignments. As the article Three Reasons to Flip Your Classroom notes, one of the meaningful reasons to have the flipped classroom is to development the interaction between both teachers and students, especially for language learners, they will be provided with opportunities to practice what they have prepared and learned outside the classroom to work together to solve problems and then grab something new. 

      Therefore, for both learners and teachers, even the education system, the flipped classroom not only creates some changes but also brings some challenges since through this new classroom, students are no longer passive receivers, but learners who actively prepare learning outside the classroom and solve confusions collaboratively in the class. Additionally, teachers are encouraged to use more Internet tools or technology in order to develop their flipped classrooms.

Gamification: an effective way of learning English

     As I mentioned in my last blog post, gamification which has been involved in language teaching and learning becomes to be a popular concept that more and more language instructors and teachers would like to have a try in their language class. It is truth that having games in a language class could be considered as an effective and meaningful way that not only help raise students' interests on learning a language but also actually encourage students to involve themselves in language learning and practice as much as they could.

     This time, I chose and tried an serious game, Third World Framer, which could be recommended by language teachers to their students as a good online game that students could play outside the classroom for autonomous learning.

     I played this game twice, and I would like to say that this game could be considered as a reasonable choice for English learners, especially intermediate English learners. When I played this game, I found that players need to plant some crops and wait for harvest to earn money to support their families and farms. Through this game, English learners would be able to learn a lot of new vocabulary, especially many farm words; for example, corn, wheat, and peanut since this game is a kind of management game which allows players to manage a farm and a family that in a third world. Additionally, this game provides language learners an opportunity to practice their English reading and comprehending abilities as players are required to read some hints and make decisions according to these hints. Moreover, this game also provides a good entry for intermediate English learners to learn something about cross-cultural knowledge because this game lets players to experience some cultural issues by themselves when players are playing this game.

Performance Indicator-ESL.I.5-8.1.1
Students learning English as a second language will use English to acquire, interpret, apply and transmit information for content area learning and personal use. They will develop and use skills and strategies appropriate to their level of English proficiency to collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts.

      As the article Kyle Mawer's task type notes, in order to assess if the learning objectives have been met, it is rational to give a small quiz on vocabulary to assess that if students have mastered the new vocabulary and then discuss the game strategy with students, encouraging students to describe their attitudes toward the game, and ask students for their reasons and decision making.Through the small quiz and discussion on various aspects of this game, teachers would be able to indicate that if students have mastered some new words,comprehend the context, and learned something about cross-cultural knowledge.

Playing the Game in an ESL class: Heart of Tota

     Involving games in a language class could be considered as an effective and interesting way to help students learn a language better, especially some digital games which are available online. Through these games, students are able to raise their interests in participating and practicing.

     I tried an online game names Heart of Tota. This is an adventure game which could lead students to keep exploring on an island to look for a rare artifact, "Heart of Tota".

     I played this game for twice. During playing this game, I felt that this game is easy to control since I just need to use my mouse to click on items to collect and directions to go. Through this games, students will be able to learn some new vocabulary and phrases since they are required to collect items such as tools to help them during their exploration. In addition, students will gain the ability of giving directions with the assistance of their teachers.

     During playing the game, it would be reasonable to consider the teacher as an instructor and monitor. Firstly, teachers could go through the instruction with the whole class, for example, asking students to read the instruction together, and provide more details to students if they are confused. This is a good opportunity for students to practice their reading and speaking skills as well as their comprehension competence. Also, teachers could show an example of how to play this game before letting students play by themselves to make sure that students are on the right track. In order to make sure that all students are actively involved, it may be better if teachers could divide students into teams and ask them to compete with each other by counting times they spend and checking times that they click until they find the "Heart of Tota". In order to assess if the learning objectives have been met, teachers could prepare a small quiz which includes vocabulary appears in this game. Additionally, teachers could ask each team to write down their own walkthroughs, and then check the provided walkthroughs with students together, especially the learning objectives are related to vocabulary and giving directions.

     From my own experience, I would like to say that having games in class is a good method to not only raise students' interests but also help students develop their own learning abilities through letting students explore by themselves.

Performance Indicator-ESL.E.2-4.1.1.3
Students select information appropriate to the purpose of the investigation, and relate ideas from one written or spoken source to another.

Games Inspire Learning

     Gamification is a concept which involves games in teaching and learning, and its goal is to help language learners to develop their abilities and skills in language learning when they are engaged in games. Compared to traditional language teaching, involving games in language education becomes more and more popular, even in higher education. As the article 7 Things You Should Know About Games and Learning notes that "the interactive dynamic of games has the potential to benefit teaching and learning". Since during classroom-based games, students are able to develop their own abilities and language skills while they are engaged in games. Involving various games in language class not only aims to have something for fun but also to encourage students to actively participate and practice what they have learned and to provide feedback which will be helpful for students' future learning. Another significant feature of involving games in language teaching could be motivation. Motivation plays an important role in learning, especially in language learning; with motivation, students will be able to hold a positive attitude and keep exploring their own potential abilities on language learning. Moreover, students who have motivation in learning usually learn better and behave more effective than students who lack motivations. Therefore, through games, students are able to gain more interest in learning, to know what they have learned, and more importantly--to realize what they need to improve. The more they are encouraged and inspired, the better they learn.

     A number of games which are regarded as effective games could be considered by language educators. One of the types which is typical and popular in our modern society might be the digital games which requires the use of technology while teaching. In the article "Just Playing Games? A Look at the Use of Digital Games for Language Learning", five key elements--goals, interaction, feedback, context, and motivation, which are meaningful in language learning have been emphasized. Especially the key feature of context, it serves an effective function in language learning since authenticity is considered importantly in language teaching. Digital games could provide multi-dimension contexts which are powerful to develop communicative competences to language learners; therefore, through digital games, students can gain more opportunities to practice how to use language in a real world.

     This point of view was also mentioned by Tom Chatfield in his speech Tom Chatfield: 7 Ways Games Reward the Brain. And he brought up with another important feature of games-- rewards. As Tom said, rewards encourages development. The more rewards a learner gains, the more participation he/she wants to produce. Therefore, this process becomes a circulation which encourages the learner to participate more, practice more, and receive more feedback. Through games with rewards, learners will develop clear goals in order to complete the games and gain rewards, and they will try their best during the process of games. All these will benefit the learner for better language learning.

     

     

Twitter: It Helps Teaching!

     In our contemporary society, with the development of technology, using Internet tools, especial social media becomes more and more useful and meaningful since we can not only keep connection with the world but also learn something new every day through social media. However, if we combine education with social media, what will happen? I believe that this combination would be significant.

     Using Twitter is a good example. As the article Teaching with Twitter notes, "today it seems everyone is on Twitter, following and being followed". This is true. Nowadays, more and more teachers are trying to use Twitter as a part of their teaching. For me, as a future language teacher, I believe this would be benefit, not only for me but also for my students, especially language students. I agree with the idea that Twitter provides students, especially shy students who do not like sharing their opinions or comments with a place to talk. Through Twitter, students are encouraged to share their experiences and make contribution without feeling pressed and embarrassed. Everyone in this community feels free to talk. Moreover, students can leave comments and receive feedback from others as soon as they have just posted their Twitter. An other advantage that encourages me to involve Twitter in my future teaching is that it is convenient to search or make hashtags. Therefore, during my teaching, I can easily create hashtags which are relevant to my class, and then encourage my students to join in the discussion with people all over the world who are interested in these topics.

     In addition, in the article The Teacher's Guide to Twitter, some tips for teachers who would like to have Twitter in their teaching are listed. One tip that I feel useful is to "Share Your Resources", which will be helpful for many teachers for their future development. Since sharing some awesome resources will provide us more opportunities to join in this community. Moreover, the more we contribute to this community, the more we receive from it. Through sharing, we are able to share good educational resources with other educators from the whole world. During this process, we are not only sharing but also learning from each other since different countries have different education systems, and different teachers have different teaching styles.

     Teaching with the assistance of Twitter not only benefits our students but also ourselves since through this social media, we are all involved in this communicative community which provides us with a number of awesome resources to help us improving our teaching.

Attending Twitterchat #ntchat

   

     This is my first time to attend the Twitterchat. I followed the #ntchat on Wednesday night. This #ntchat was provided for new teachers. The topic of this week was about social studies, and four discussion questions were posted during the one hour chat:
     Question 1: What do you think is the purpose of teaching social studies in the classroom?
     Question 2: What strategies can we use in social studies to reach beyond the classroom walls to make global connections?
     Question 3: Do social studies textbooks still have a place in today's classrooms?
     Question 4: How can social studies be integrated with other subject areas in a meaningful way? Thoughts?

     Through this one hour discussion, I got an opportunity to develop my knowledge on social studies. Moreover, I learned some new and meaningful ideas from others who participate in this chat. For example, I agree with others' opinion on it is important to involve social studies in classroom since students will be able to know the whole world rather than a small area where they live.

     Therefore, I feel that Twitterchat can be used as a good way to learn some new ideas while sharing my own opinions with others, especially other experienced teachers who have more knowledge. Additionally, Twitterchat provides me with a chance to get connections with different teachers and educators all over the world. This is important and meaningful since I am able to learn different cultures and education systems from different countries. Through this one hour chat, I effectively connect myself with the whole world. As a future language teacher, I think learning about multicultural is important. In addition, many of the discussion questions in the Twitterchat are questions I have never thought about, so I gain a good opportunity to think more, share more, and receive more through this Twitterchat, which will help me to build more professional knowledge on my future teaching.

ePals: More Learning Experience

   

     ePals is a digital media that allows children to gain more learning experience outside the classroom. Through ePals, children are provided with a number of stories, games, and books, etc. Teachers are able to connect with other teachers all over the world to share their teaching experience and culturally different teaching strategies. What is more important to both young learners and educators: many meaningful and helpful projects which will enrich learner's learning experience in various aspects could be worked through this Internet tool. There are some education projects which have been developed through this program:

     1. Education Around the World Project This project is developed by an education student and pre-service teacher who is looking to start a project about education curriculum and systems around the world. Through this project, this pre-teacher would like to communicate with elementary schools around the world, gain as much information about education systems worldwide as possible, and get contact with students, teachers, and administrators all over the world.

     2. Class in Azerbaijan Seeks Partners for Culture Project This project is started by a class in Azerbaijan which is seeking partners for their project. Since the students from this Azerbaijan class are interested in foreign countries and want to learn other countries' art, culture, and educational system, they develop this collaborated project through ePals to gain as much information from different countries as possible.

     3. Let's Paint the Globe Green This projected is designed to give students a better understanding of the "Go green" concept and the "Think global". Through this project, students all over the world are expected to think about earth and it resources through discussion and conversations with other students in different countries and cultures. 

     One feature that ePals provides is the available entry to communicate to not only students but also educators around the world. Therefore, for my future teaching, if I am able to apply ePals to my teaching, I would like to develop some projects through ePals to have my students share their English learning experience with other students from different countries and cultures, and encourage them to learn from each other through communication and conversations. 

It is Meaningful: Join a Social Networking Site

     I join a social networking site which is a Google+ community of English Language Teaching (ELT). This community is created for both teachers and learners of English. In this community, members are provided with resources, discussions, and tips of learning and teaching English. For me, as a future English teacher, joining this community is meaningful and helpful.

     Firstly, through this community, I could share my experience on teaching English with other members, and I am also able to receive comments and feedback from others all over the world. This will definitely help me improve my teaching and enlighten me on applying newly teaching strategies. In addition, I am able to keep pace with the development of new social media. In our contemporary education society, teachers are expected to combine technology with their teaching which will not only benefit teachers but also students to learn effectively. The last but not the least, this ELT community will encourage me, as a language teacher, to keep connection with others in the field of language teaching. As a result, I will be able to have a more proficient entry to learn what I do not know from others.

A Learner is Like a Catalyst

     In Siemens(2005), the author notes that connectivism is an integrated principle which shifts learning from an individual and personal issue to a more widely connected process. Since the rapid development of network, learning is no more individual; on the contrary, learners are actively involved in the information flow which connects individuals with the entire network. From this perspective, a learner is able to be considered as a catalyst of the constant extension of learning communities. As Siemens states, "Connectivism presents a model of learning that acknowledges the tectonic shifts in society where learning is no longer an internal, individualistic activity" (Siemens, 2005. Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age). For individual learners, learning does not only indicates receiving knowledge from social network, especially in this digital era, learners are also encouraged to be able to provide feedback. Therefore, a learner is like a catalyst which could bring a reaction to the learning communities--the tighter the connection between learners and the whole network, the more new tools and knowledge are utilized.

     In addition, in the video following, The network is the learning,Siemens also notes that "Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today".In this digital society, learners are tightly connected together to share knowledge and information, but what seems more important is that learners are connected together to cause and bring new tools and knowledge for further development, with the abundant application of technology and digital skills. Therefore, individual learners are no longer individual but tightly connected, which will definitely function as a catalyst which bring reactions to a constantly developing and creating learning communities.

Which one to choose: Diigo or Pinterest?

     With the development of technology, I believe that many of us have already experienced and are definitely involved in the modern revolution of technology. As a future language teacher, I think that it is important for me to experience abundant technology resources since I will be able to provide more information on language learning for my students. Therefore, I have tried two different Internet tools and would like to share my experience.

     First, Diigo is an Internet tool which provides users with a website to keep bookmarks and multiple tags in their personal "library", and it allows users to highlight text in saved sites. In addition, users are able to follow others and write comments on others' sites as well as bloggers. One convenient feature which Diigo has is that users are able to message others who follow them. This feature really works since as an website user, I am able to get contact with others who may share the same experience with me, or someone who leave comments on my site and I would like to talk more with he/she. This is really a good website for users who would like to keep many online bookmarks and share with others.

     Compared to Diigo, Pinterest is a website which provides visual entries and sharing. Pinterest users are able to create their own boards which are similar to bookmarks in Diigo, and then they could save and share as many pins as they want in their boards. Additionally, users are able to categorize their boards according to their own preference. Same with Diigo, users of Pinterest also are allowed to keep multiple tags and follow others who also have interesting boards. Pinterest really works well since users can "pin" whatever they like and them share all with others. Most importantly, this website is more suitable for visual learners.

     After experiencing these two web tools, there is no doubt that I would like to keep using both of these websites since I could gain different resources and share with different people through these two different Internet tools. And I believe that I would like to develop these tools into my future teaching since I would like to help my students to have more entries of language learning.

     

How technology impacts our future education?

     

     With the development of technology, we are experiencing a new era of Internet, and people all over the world have been involved in a new revolution which is called the Social Media Revolution. It becomes an Internet tool which changes the world into a global village, and even our offline behaviors get greatly impacted. The video clip "Social Media Revolution 2011", tells us the huge impacts that social media bring to our daily life from a statistical perspective. There is no doubt that education also receives great effects. For example, E-mails have become to be the most commonly used tool of communication between teachers and students, and there are more and more e-readers. This video clip reminds us, future teachers, that combing social media with our teaching becomes important and meaningful since social media are able to provide students with more entries to effectively explore and learn what they want to learn.

     "Every student can learn, just not on a same day or the same way". However, in our contemporary society, if we do not use technology in learning, we may lose the connection with the world, and we may lose the meaning of education. The video clip "Education Change Challenge 2010" shows that technology not only brings educators challenges but also opportunities since the generation of students that we are going to teach is a media driven generation; therefore, facing the challenges of using technology in our teaching also provides us with opportunities of changing the traditional education into a more efficient and world-wide education system.

How do Blogs Work in Language Learning and Teaching

    From my own experience of English learning, I would like to agree with the thought that motivation is one of the keys which could have great effects on the success of language learning. Therefore, as a future language teacher, how to effectively improve my teaching with more fun and help my students raise their interests could be important elements that I should consider, especially in this Internet era, with the combination of appropriate Internet tools. 

        Blogs could be considered as one efficient tool to help language teachers develop their teaching since it provides various entries for different demands. One way that I think I would like to use blogs in my future teaching is to expand students' access to relevant materials by incorporating links. Blogging is a good choice to add a number of different links to provide students with opportunities to learn something new and what could not learn in a real classroom. For example, if my students have learned something about culture during the class, but they want to know more about culture diversity; therefore, I could post some links for interesting pictures, videos, and articles on blogs. Additionally, I have a chance to make sure that all links work well and my students are on the right track of learning.

       Moreover, using blogs could be one efficient way for me, as a language teacher, to develop my self-reflection on my teaching. I could keep records or write journals about how I design my class, how my class processes, and what do I need to improve for my next teaching. All these information could be recorded on blogs. Additionally, I can receive feedback or comments from other bloggers since some other language teachers who share the same experience with me may also use blogs as a way of reflecting. 

Performance Indicator-ESL.I.5-8.2.1.1

Students read, listen to, view, write about, and discuss texts and performances from a wide range of authors, subjects, and genres.

Performance Indicator-ESL.I.5-8.4.1.1

Students use a variety of oral, print, and electronic forms of social communication and for writing to or for self, applying the conventions of social writing.