Thursday, November 13, 2014

Technology, a bridge to our destination in ESL teaching.

Welcome! This blog was created for a workshop about IT in India to show ESL teachers how to include technology in the ESL learning process, using the Internet, applications, tablets, and smartphones as a platform to give creative and meaningful experiences to students. Different kinds of strategies and approaches will encourage teachers and students to use these tools in a variety of creative ways, turning them into incredible and unlimited experiences to take ESL learning into the future.
Social media is now playing a very important role in the way people receive information as well as in the way they communicate and interact with the world. How can we use at least part of the time that an average student spends using Facebook or Whatsapp as a learning opportunity? There are many ways! Social networks should not be the enemies of learning. In fact, the Internet can be a way to have access to a classroom that is open 24 hours a day--a space for learning in a innovative, motivating, and entertaining way. Twitter, Instagram, or Youtube can also be seen by teachers as an opportunity to connect, but more important:  an opportunity  to be that locomotive driver of the train that today's students are riding, leading them to the ultimate destination in the learning experience.

 REMEMBER DEAR TEACHERS:
Technology can be a great asset in ESL classrooms, offering authentic, fun, and interesting activities, besides giving access to endless resources for our students.

Computers, tablets, and e-readers can all be instrumental in learning English, offering interactive and motivating ways to learn.

I.

Physical resources:

The PC: Having them in the classroom allows the teacher and the student to have access to the Internet and its unlimited resources.



Smartphones: a phone equipped with other devices, such as a camera and Internet connection, it has been joked that you can do everything on a smart phone but place phone calls. However, a smart phone does prove useful for classrooms: a teacher I once knew, for example, took pictures of each student in her class, the student holding a large card with his or her name, so that she had a visual record of her students’ faces and names associated with them to refer to. 



Laptops and Tablets:

Laptops are effective in the classroom, making it possible, for example, to project a clip from YouTube to demonstrate a cultural concept such as what The Tonight Show is. Laptops are also good for teachers' out-of-class work, like recording and scoring grades. Finally, many students are assigned their own laptops in classrooms now, on which they can complete, print out, and store their work as well as learn effective methods for completing web searches. This basic education in technology in important for many underprivileged students who otherwise have little access to it, and for whom learning technology, along with learning English, is critical for advancing in society.

Ipods and mp3's:   

Originally a device for storing electronic music, iPods are now a tool for storing other audio material, such as lectures, and are therefore good for teachers’ professional development. There are numerous “Podcasts” that can be found online on the latest teaching information on topics such as English as a Second Language and CALL. Teachers can also record their own podcasts, post them, and ask students to listen as homework. iPods are also relatively inexpensive and easy to use. 


Virtual Resources: 



Blogs


So, why should you blog with your students? There are many reasons why you may choose to use weblogs with students. One of the best reasons is to provide a real audience for student writing. Usually, the teacher is the only person who reads student writing, and the focus of this reading is usually on form, not content. With weblogs, students can find themselves writing for a real audience that, apart from the teacher, may include their peers, students from other classes, or even other countries, their parents, and potentially anyone with access to the Internet.


Types of blogs used in language teaching
Aaron Campbell (2003) has outlined three types of blogs for use with language classes:
  • Blogs for presentations and classes
Using blogs this way is an easy but effective strategy to lead a class or a presentation, giving the chance to students to interact after posting their questions and comments. Besides, after your blog has enough information, can be used in future classes, wich saves time.


  • The Tutor Blog is run by the teacher of a class. The content of this type of blog can be limited to syllabus, course information, homework, assignments, etc. Or the teacher may choose to write about his or her life, sharing reflections about the local culture, target culture and language to stimulate online and in-class discussion. In this type of blog, students are normally restricted to being able to write comments to the teacher's posts. A great example of this is Aaron Campbell's own 'The New Tanuki' http://thenewtanuki.blogspot.com/

  • The Class Blog is a shared space, with teacher and students being able to write in the main area. It is best used as a collaborative discussion space, an extra-curricular extension of the classroom. Students can be encouraged to reflect in more depth, in writing, on themes touched upon in class. Students are given a greater sense of freedom and involvement than with the tutor blog. A very good example of what has been done with this type of blog is Barbara Dieu's 'Bee Online' http://beeonline.blogspot.com/) and 'Bee Online 2' http://beeonline2.blogspot.com/

  • The Learner Blog is the third type of blog and it requires more time and effort from the teacher to both set up and moderate, but is probably the most rewarding. It involves giving each student an individual blog. The benefit of this is that this becomes the student's own personal online space. Students can be encouraged to write frequently about what interests them, and can post comments on other students' blogs. For examples, see the links to learner blogs from the class blog and tutor blog examples above.

Live Journal

http://www.livejournal.com/

Get some ideas on how to blog from the British council: 


Or try Wikis by BP works. Wikis are a space where you can post documents, and have a forum.

Example:
http://536summer2014.pbworks.com/w/page/81911591/FrontPage
Google Hangouts
is a space where you can text, make video calls to one or more people, and share your screen, similar to Skype
Google Drive

is a space where you can share documents with selected users and modify the documents in real time from multiple locations at the same time.
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/#my-drive

 Moodle

 is an open source platform where students can submit assignments, participate in forums, and take quizzes or tests. Teachers can grade assignments and post documents and video links.
Example:
http://gap.westcliff.us/
Blackboard

 is an expensive platform that does the same
Example:
https://csusb.blackboard.com/webapps/login/

The Internet itself is an endless source of useful information for both students and teachers. Readings, exercises, translators, or dictionaries, might be used to clarify doubts about grammar, or spelling etc. Most of them are very useful. Some simple examples are:

 Translator:

 https://translate.google.com/


 Dictionaries

 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/best

 http://www.wordreference.com/

 Synonyms:

 http://www.thesaurus.com/
Tongue Twisters: 

 They are a great tool to improve students' pronunciation. If you are not a big fan of them as a learning tool, read this testimony told by a teacher:

 "One of my ESL students, an exceptional young man who is deaf, told me that a prior English tutor had used tongue twisters during their lessons to help him improve his English pronunciation. This student felt that using tongue twisters for pronunciation was an effective strategy for him. We incorporated them into our lessons together and I found them to be very effective in improving his consonant and vowel sounds." 

 So, here you have an useful link, but remember, there are many, just research for more:

http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm

Activity one:   Are you ready?!!! :D

Tongue twister # 17 and # 21

II.
Digital Field Trips:

Students absorb a great deal of information through experiential learning, but field trips are not always an option with limited school budgets. Digital field trips provide more authentic ways for students to absorb new information
Teachers or student might act as tour guides for the class.
Example:
Smithsonian Museum: http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/#
Use differentiated instruction—more advanced students can plan a trip including airfare, hotel, other places to visit, budget

 The Natural History Museum in London, England, www.nhm.ac.uk/museum/vr/index.html. There is a tour of the online gallery of virtual objects. You can grab and rotate the objects.
    Hill stations, Tamilnadu, India. www.view360.in. Choose the various spots in gallery for your virtual tour.
      Emirates palace, Abu Dhabi. http://www.eyerevolution.co.uk/ . Go to portfolio to choose other related spots.
     Tajmahal, India, http://www.taj-mahal.net/. Explore the pride of our nation in this website.
      London, http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/activities/. Do the activity based on the instructions given in the site.

Give a brief oral report about your virtual tour in the class.
Write a report on your virtual tour:
Questions:
1.      When and with whom did you take the virtual tour?
2.      Where is the place located?
3.      What is your opinion about the place?
4.      How long did the virtual tour take?
5.      Would you like to visit the place in future?

Activity two: Time for a field trip!

Games and gamification:


Games are an important part of many of today's young and adults learners, that's why nowadays we talk about gamification http://badgeville.com/wiki/Gamification So, why not use games for teaching? They have many advantages; they give a sensation of accomplishment as they move up through the levels. The learning process is almost unnoticed by the conscious mind while playing, and they are more fun than listening to a teacher on how to conjugate verbs, which is important as we all know, but you understand what I'm talking about. Learning can be fun!

Here we have a couple of examples:


Some traditional games like Scrabble or Memory are always useful.




Noun attack: http://www.english-online.org.uk/games/typeofnouns.htm  is one of many games on the site http://www.english-online.org.uk/games/gamezone2.htm. Is about a deadly skull hidden in one of the nouns, and it's coming to get you. As the nouns advance, you have to click on the noun hiding the skull to shoot it.



Idioms-Slang game:



Perfect for high school students to learn all those expression that are so useful to understand songs, movies etc.  http://www.vocabulary.co.il/idioms/idioms-game-slang-game/






 Free learning languages site:

 Duolingo:





The  site has many good games to improve all the E abilities:



 http://www.vocabulary.co.il/english-language-games/





Apps:    


Learning English can be very difficult and frustrating at times. Apps on iPads and tablets are great ways for students to practice English and have fun while doing it. For practicing grammar rules, apps like Grammar Up allow students to test their knowledge on specific topics (verbs, prepositions, etc.). The app also keeps track of students’ progress and allows them to skip questions by shaking the tablet. Best Colleges Online offers a list of 16 apps for ESL students, ranging from basic letter instruction to pronunciation guides. Students can also play classic games like Scrabble and Boggle on mobile devices.

Touchcast:
This is a tool where you can use several different apps during a presentation in real time
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/#folders/0BwFtNPd-IKKGdDJCNTZkUkdDWnM

Social Networks:


First, let's watch a video:





Incredible, isn't it? Well, these are some of the tools we have:

"We cannot ignore using technology and social media, as well. But what about using social media in our classrooms?

 What about having lessons via Facebook or Twitter? I think we totally MUST use Facebook and Twitter. HOW? Very easy. If you have privacy problems, open an account that consists of only your students.

A lot of students have Facebook and Twitter. They love spending time on those sites. First, explain that you are going to use Facebook and Twitter for educational purposes. Later, start chatting over Facebook and Twitter, but give them real reasons to do something for class. For example, have an online chat about the lesson that you had today. Twitter is a good way to improve their writing skills. You can make them use twitter for chat. You can also make them update their status once a day. I had a lecture like that last semester. I loved it :) You can discuss some issues over social media. It is easy and some shy students can express themselves more on the Internet. For example, you choose a topic with your students and discuss it over Facebook or Twitter. It sounds good, doesn't it? You can talk to them about tomorrow's lesson. Or you can announce some news. We talk to them over Facebook as a whole class, it is easy and fun. :) I want to finish my first part with a sentence that I love very much (I read this in the newspaper) Smart teacher instead of smart technology! Using technology is not enough on its own. 


Using Facebook and Twitter is GREAT because students love them, spend a lot of time on them, if you use what they love, they start to have an interest and your lessons will be much more fun and enjoyable. You will start to see the power of social media day by day. Students will enjoy themselves while learning.

Add me on Fb and Twiter!!! :D

https://www.facebook.com/julie.ciancio.1

https://twitter.com/JulieCiancio



Skype:

  1. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ inspiration uses Skype to help kids in India learn. Find out how Skype is connecting grannies in the UK with children in India for both a cultural connection and an educational benefit.
  2. Guest lecturers. Have guest lecturers come to your classroom via Skype.
  3. Foreign culture lessons. Skype allows students to see first hand what people’s homes, schools, clothing, weather, etc looks like. If a festival takes place, Skype can bring it to your classroom too.
  4. Be available to students. If your school is suddenly closed for a while or if you want to set up conference hours for students, or in case of sickness, use Skype to allow students to contact you. 
  5. Use of Skype to have a virtual guest for a lecture, or a different teacher to perform a workshop in subjects as reading, pronunciation etc.


Activity three: International conference call




Let's call Teacher Victor Gruber (victorthegroover on skype) and see what we can learn about him.

 Possible topics for questions:

 -Personal info
-Work info
-Hobbies
-Culture (typical foods, music, etiquette, etc.) 
-Opinions (technology in the classroom, challenges for ESL students, 
social networks for teaching, world related issues)
-Sports


III.

Prezi: Cool multidimensional presentations for free

Prezi is a cloud-based (SaaS) presentation software and storytelling tool for presenting ideas on a virtual canvas.The product employs a zooming user interface (ZUI), which allows users to zoom in and out of their presentation media, and allows users to display and navigate through information within a 2.5D or parallax 3D space on the Z-axis. 

http://prezi.com/index/14/

 Using cell phones or mobile devices can be very useful in the classroom. Mobile Assisted Language Learning:
 https://prezi.com/qq8pv5aw7m7v/mall/.

 Activity four: participants create a Prezi

 Tutorial:

Voicethread:


This is a site where you can make presentations with audio included. Allows other student to comment and teacher to make suggestions to their work.


Youtube:

Now that a growing majority of Internet users have broadband, YouTube and other video clip sites (Google Video, Vimeo, etc.) have become very popular - especially with young adults. These sites also provide English learners and classes with a new tool to improve listening skills. The real advantage to these sites - at least from a language learning point of view - is that they offer authentic examples of everyday English used by everyday people. Students can spend hours watching videos in English and quickly improve their pronunciation and comprehension skills through mimicry. There are also hours of English learning videos provided by excellent teachers as well. Using YouTube in the ESL classroom can be fun and helpful, but it certainly needs some structure. Otherwise, class might turn into a free-for-all.

Jennifer’s ESL
https://www.youtube.com/user/JenniferESL
Aim: Improve listening skills
Activity: Sharing YouTube videos
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Outline:
  • At the end of one of your classes, decide on a particular topic that your class would enjoy. You can do this as a poll, take suggestions or choose a topic on your own that fits in well with your curriculum.
  • Poll everywhere is a website where you can take instantaneous class opinion polls
https://www.polleverywhere.com/signup

  • Before the next lesson begins, go to YouTube and search for short videos on the topic your class has chosen. Once you have found appropriate videos, save the urls in your browser. If you do not have an Internet connection in class, go to Keepvid. This site allows you to download the video to your computer which you can later use in class.
  • Watch the video a few times and create a difficult vocabulary guide. Write a short introduction to the videos you will watch. The more context you provide the better your students will understand the videos they are about to watch. Include both the short introduction and difficult vocabulary list on a class handout. Make sure to include the url (web page address) of the YouTube video.
  • Create a short quiz based on the videos.
  • Hand out the introduction sheets and go through the introduction and difficult vocabulary list to make sure everyone understands.
  • Watch the videos together as a class. If you have a computer lab this will work better as students can pair up and watch videos repeatedly. Students can then work on the quiz sheet in small groups or in pairs.
  • Most likely, your videos will be amusing and students will want to watch many more. This is to be encouraged! If possible, give students 20 minutes or so at the computers to explore YouTube.
  • For homework: In groups of four to five students, students should find a short video of their own to present to the class. Ask them to provide a short introduction, difficult vocabulary list and follow-up quiz modeled on the worksheet you have created for your class. Remind students to include the url (web page address) of the YouTube video.
  • Have students exchange worksheets with another group and complete the exercise. Students can then compare notes on the videos they have watched.
  • Alternative activity: Have students watch a video without audio and make a script for what the speakers in the video are saying, then they perform the audio portion, and then you can play the original for them to check.

How to make youtube videos:

Google drive doc:

How to make a youtube vid.
How to use audacity.
How to use voicethread
Web 2.0

 https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/#folders/0BwFtNPd-IKKGdDJCNTZkUkdDWnM

Real estate web sites:

They are useful to learn vocabulary just by using the pictures and describing the house or the different rooms in it (bathroom, bedrooms, kitchen, etc.), or use the street view to describe the neighborhood, giving directions, finding interesting places around the houses describing people's clothing, types of cars, etc.
Also, for advanced students, you can plan an activity asking them to buy or rent one of the houses according to the needs of a certain family, businessman, etc. Part of the task could be finding a nearby school for their children, a house with a big backyard for the dog, or a park for the kids and the dog to play. Use your creativity, use your ideas and make the activity your own!

Let's check on this now:




When students get familiar with the site, the teacher can organize a quest to see who can find different places, as museums, coffee shops, restaurants or parks, and ask the students to take screen shoots of the places. The group or student that wins can be rewarded by leaving earlier, winning a candy or a star to wear during the rest of the class or to glue in a notebook. Remember to congratulate the groups that couldn't win for their effort, remember that the key of motivation is: The positive feedback!




To learn more about IT in the classroom, you can always go here:

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

 William Arthur Ward quotes (American dedicated scholar, author, editor, pastor and teacher)

And never forget: the only limit is your imagination!



Thank you all!!!

 Contact us:

 Dr. Julie Ciancio
Victor Gruber
          &
Miranda Institute of  Languages and Business

 Contact us:
mirandainstitute@gmail.com

 KEEP INSPIRING!!!

 (NOW PLAY)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He0p5I0b8j8





This site contains the training modules prepared for the IATEFL-funded ELTAI Workshop on Virtual Learning held at TBAK College, India on 9th & 10 August, 2014. The director of the workshop and the authors of the training manuals hope that these training manuals will provide the users with ample knowledge and expertise on using various webtools. Users of this site are allowed to download and use the training manuals for educational purpose, provided they acknowledge the support of IATEFL and ELTAI.
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