Podcasts in ESL learning

After looking through the links a podcast I enjoyed was English cafe 500. I enjoyed the podcast because it was humorous and the episode looked at a famous American Elizabeth Blackwell. The podcast also provides a list of any potentially new or difficult vocabulary words for the students to listen for.  The podcast speaker speaks slowly and clearly, he also gives a clear definition of any potentially confusing phrases. Another thing I liked about the podcast was his discussion of a confusing set of verbs in English, which was in response to listeners questions.

I could use this podcast or any podcast within his series. This could be done by having the students look at the topics discussed in each podcast and have them pick out one that interests them. The students then can respond to the podcast they choose to listen to and provide details from the podcast as well as discuss the famous American spoken of in the podcast.

Performance Indicator - ESL.I.5-8.1.1.6: Students make and support inferences about information and ideas with reference to features in oral and written text.

 May Include - ESL.I.5-8.1.1.6.MI: Features such as vocabulary, format, facts, sequence, and relevance of details.                      

Using comicstrips to make a class more fun

Comics are source of media that is popular all over the world; many countries have their own unique ways of drawing them with many different styles. I think the use of comics, as a tool in the classroom might be a fun way to introduce students to creating their own stories. It does not require them to spend the time drawing the characters, because they can just pick out their favorite from the many choices on the website.

For my comic I found a character from a tv show from my childhood. I used the character to recreate a repeated scene on the show. I think a fun activity would be for the students to come up with stories they can share with the class. There is a variety of options for the lengths of the comics, which can allow the students more freedom in the creation of their story. If the students enjoy the assignment you can have their characters keep going on different adventures related to the weekly lesson. 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. The students responding to their favorite comics and helping to provide ideas for the next adventure can fulfill this this indicator. The students can even split the comic into multiple parts.

I think the idea of using comics in the classroom can be a fun exercise that the students can make funny or serious depending on their interests. I think it can be enjoyable for every student. I think if you want to use it in a flipped classroom situation, it could be used to introduce new material as well in a fun way for the students. For me the most important use of this tool might be to give the students a way to share their understanding of the material with the instructor.

Using Short clips in your lessons

The website Animoto is a new website for me, but the using software to turn video clips into short movies is not. I think I could integrate the use of this tool into the classroom with an activity involving sports or hobbies. Every student has a sport or hobby they are passionate about and each one has some verbs that are used in a specific context in reference to that hobby. My video looks at  verbs used in playing or watching basketball. I feel like this could be a fun way for students to share their personal interests with the class as well as allowing them to share the new vocab with their classmates.

I think this tool can be useful because it can create a new option for creating even a weekly or monthly journal. The students can take pics or videos from their lives and share them with the class. Then they can write about the experiences they shared in their videos or pick one of their favorite classmates videos and make a response. I think this tool can give them control for what they wish to expand their knowledge on, if they are interested in a topic or art they can look into it deeper and share this new knowledge with their classmates.

 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. 
I think this can be assessed both in their way their share the journals and videos as well as with how they respond to their classmates

TEDEd for making lessons

TED talks are always interesting and many of them contain thoughtful discussions from people who have many years of experience in their field. Being able to take and turn these videos into lessons through the TEDEd website is something new I would have never thought someone would have created as an option. This wonderful option for lesson creation  I think students would really enjoy using because many young people watch TED talks on our own because of how interesting they are.

For my lesson I looked for a video that would have advice for students studying English as well as new ideas for me as a teacher. The Three Secrets You Need to Know About Spoken English by Judy Thompson for me was very informative and gave me more perspective on the number of people who speak English in the world.

My Objectives are:

1. Make sure they understand how the three things discussed can impact their learning of english
2. Students will be able to provide a thoughtful response to the question posed in the lesson
3. Have the students sum up how they believe understanding each of the three secrets can impact their learning of English natively. 

I think the best way of testing to see if the objectives are meet is first to have the students write a short response summing up the video and what the three secrets are, then to have a in class discussion about how they think the knowledge shared by the ESL teacher can impact their learning. I think having a guided discussion will allow the students to share the ideas with their classmates and with me. I believe their opinions on the video will be valuable as well because as language learners their view is different then mine as the instructor. 

Flipping your class

Flipping your class is turning the traditional method of teaching around and making homework into in class work. This method passes the responsibility to the student, the students not only have to take responsibility, but when they have access to the materials they can go back and review the lesson more then once to increase their comprehension. The ability for the students to watch the instructional videos more times allows them to review the material as opposed to relying on notes they took  in class.

The article Flipping Your EL Classroom: A primer gives a basic introduction into the concept of flipping the class, the article focuses on how to find or create your own videos for the class. It gives examples of sources for videos including youtube, teacher tube, and ted-ed. This articles focus on the videos highlights the most important aspect of flipping the class, the material that introduces the topic for the lesson plan. Without the teacher directly interacting with the students while they are learning the initial lesson. It makes it important that you find the dest possible video for the students to watch and make sure it covers everything necessary in the lesson but also contains away to assure the students viewed it. One thing mentioned was adding a quiz to viewing the video as part of the lesson to assure the students watch it.

The second article is Three Reasons to Flip Your Classroom it first looks at the three steps of a flipped class lesson plan, they are the instructional video, in class collaboration and observation feedback assessment stage. The article highlights 3 very important results of the flipped classroom the first one being the increased comprehension. The second one being increased integration with teacher and student, the students who are struggling with comprehension have the most to gain from this new system. With the extra time in class devoted to using the new knowledge for purposes of interaction  and practice. The third reason being the greater use of critical thinking. As a result of the time spent outside of the classroom on understanding and remembering, the students have more time in class to focus on higher level thinking allowing for more time to work on comprehension.

I think flipping your classroom has potential to be used in the ESL environment, I do enjoy the idea of being able to spend more time focusing on making sure the students understand the material. By giving the teacher more time with the students to intervene when there is an issue with comprehension the students will be able to progress at the best possible rate.

ePals

I was exploring the website when I came across the Invent it challenge on the ePals website and it caught my attention because I always enjoy things challenging students to be creative. Under the project page I noticed that many of the projects involved class connecting using online tools with people from all over the world. This creates a network of world wide teachers who can work together as a community to promote and support each other. The schools all looking to collaborate allowing for more cultural awareness in the classroom. For me in a class teaching a second language this opportunity would be awesome to make a connection with a group of students of the same age from a country that speaks the language you are studying. 


I think the classroom connection tool would be really valuable for me because I think it is so awesome the opportunity it creates. This community tool gives a whole new side to language teaching because it allows students to really experience communicating with native speakers in their own age group. If I am teaching overseas this tool could allow me to pair up students learning english with a class of students in the United States allowing for a cultural exchange and the experience to see what it is like in an American classroom.

The Educator's PLN

The Educator's PLN is a social networking site in which teachers can seek advice on new strategies and understanding different aspects of working in a school. Looking at some of the forums I will admit I was unsure of what they were talking about because much of it was using terms i was unfamiliar with. 

I think this can be a valuable tool because of the access to all the teachers and all of their individual experiences. The site also has a large number of blogs as well as tutorials on how to use sites such as twitter. I also think the private nature of the site also protects the teachers privacy as well as guarantee that the source of information is from a teacher and not just anyone. The large membership base also has its values because it means many active members looking at forums, which means the opportunity to network and seek advice. 

How to Never Stop Learning as A Teacher

       As a teacher it is hard to keep up with all the new technology that is available to the students outside of the classroom but it is even more important to find a way to integrate it in the classroom. Students now have access to more technology then ever before and it is changing so fast. 
      The Future Starts Now is a video highlighting the issue with the Norwegian schools falling behind in education. The video claims this is due to the schools are not taking advantage of the opportunity to use the technology the students are so familiar with. The new technology offers so much opportunity to expand what the learning experience can be. The video mentioned the integration of technology to make Norway a country that relies on education after its natural resources dry up. This is because sadly there is a high dropout rate in Norway as a result people believe it is a lack of ICT in the schools. 
    The video mentions the ability for teachers to make learning more then just lecturing but a multi-sense learning experience. If the teachers can make technology integration an important and valuable addition to the classroom the potential is endless.

    I am personally unsure if this video paints a completely accurate picture of the complete reality of technology in the classroom. As I personally was not a student in high school after all of technology was integrated into the classroom, all I can do is hope it works out in the future. 

    
      The modern teacher who integrates technology into the classroom has to constantly keep learning to keep up with the changing trends. Technology has changed so much in the last ten years alone, the teachers in the video A Vision of 21st Century Teachers are spending hours a week in order to keep up. Teachers have to be willing to keep students a part of the class and the current generation is so involved with technology that teachers don't have a choice but to make it a part of the classroom. Like the previous video mentioned teaching students with the new technology is important for the future but this video looked at the commitment that comes from the teacher to better themselves.

     The future of education looks like it will have heavy involvement with technology because it is gonna become more integrated in our lives. As long as this integration is positive for the students and the teachers it means nothing but good news for the future!