- use simulations (e.g., SIM City) to teach in an immersive environment/context
- Digitized cartoons with lots of control over the clips
- Video conference with other students with different English proficiencies
- electronic pen pal system
- automatic voice translators
- Travelocity/school bus/plane/Amex card
- Programable talking stuffed animals
- Interactive toys
- Exposure to English Language Music/Films
- Creating subtitles of pirated movies
ISSUES TO CONSIDER - appropriateness to the level - individual differences in terms of tech skills, gender, background differences, etc. - concentration span
Video Chat. Video Casts with different levels of difficulty (clear sound vs. background noise, levels of sophistication in vocab, slow vs. fast talk, etc.) Word of the Day. Vocab Game of the Day. Users can Custmize Content Based on Interest (Art, Business, Casual Conversation, Gossip) Discussion Boards. Online exercises to accompany lessons. Video tutorials for how to use the website. Second life-like situations designed after particular lesson objectives (perhaps featuring exciting situations - red carpet with celebrities, an interaction with Washington, behind the scenes a Shakespeare play at the Globe, etc.) Other characters are not only other users but also generated by a program (designed to interact in ways that advance the objectives of the particular lesson) Second-life with voice and gesture recognition (like a live video chat) with the option of pressing a key to interrupt discussion (a window opens with a transcript of the last minute of dialogue with the possibility of looking up definitions of words uttered during discussion).
Students use "virtual helmets" in conjunction with cell phones to live the life of an english-speaking character. When students donned the helmets, they would become an avatar in a virtual english-speaking world. Cell phones would keep students up to date on the status of their avatars.
I really enjoyed your presentation; I also worked in Japan as an Assistant Language Teacher and my students had extremely poor English skills. My high school was the lowest level non-academic high school in the prefecture so in addition to language issues I had to contend with the absence of motivation. In any case, I also found that the classes in which I used media worked best (movies, music.) Anything that made the language relevant to their lives seemed to work better - I think even the students were surprised by their own abilities (if they tried.)
There were a couple of things I am wondering about in terms of using tools like blogs for language learning. First of all, considering that this learning does take place in the context of an institution, have you considered possible liability issues when the communication becomes more interpersonal and has potential to cross some boundaries? Would it be the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that those boundaries aren't crossed (and is that even feasible?) I'm curious because I have been in a situation where the administration of an institution rejected the idea of creating an internet forum for members because of possible abuse and arising legal issues. I don't want to be pessimistic about the concept because I really think it's a great idea, but I'm just wondering what kind of arguments or workarounds you may have thought of to address these kinds of naysayers.
Secondly, true fluency in a language consists of more than knowledge of words and grammar; there is a cultural component that I feels gets lost in technology. As Anthony had mentioned, students are communicating in a digital culture, which is different from the original context of the language. Is there a way to give students a sense (via technology) of how cultural values influence the usage of the language? (That's kind of why I like the idea of learning in a simulated world through the "virtual helmets" to create a more authentic environment for communication. That sounds like a contradiction in terms!)
6 comments:
Group 2:
Tools to communicate
-Google Docs
-Skype
Web 2.0 features in class
-communication
-collaboration
-cohesion
Given their age, we would use:
- computer applications with animation
- use simulations (e.g., SIM City) to teach in an immersive environment/context
- Digitized cartoons with lots of control over the clips
- Video conference with other students with different English proficiencies
- electronic pen pal system
- automatic voice translators
- Travelocity/school bus/plane/Amex card
- Programable talking stuffed animals
- Interactive toys
- Exposure to English Language Music/Films
- Creating subtitles of pirated movies
ISSUES TO CONSIDER
- appropriateness to the level
- individual differences in terms of tech skills, gender, background differences, etc.
- concentration span
Christine, Karen, Eric and Gonzalo:
Video Chat.
Video Casts with different levels of difficulty (clear sound vs. background noise, levels of sophistication in vocab, slow vs. fast talk, etc.)
Word of the Day. Vocab Game of the Day.
Users can Custmize Content Based on Interest (Art, Business, Casual Conversation, Gossip)
Discussion Boards.
Online exercises to accompany lessons.
Video tutorials for how to use the website.
Second life-like situations designed after particular lesson objectives (perhaps featuring exciting situations - red carpet with celebrities, an interaction with Washington, behind the scenes a Shakespeare play at the Globe, etc.) Other characters are not only other users but also generated by a program (designed to interact in ways that advance the objectives of the particular lesson)
Second-life with voice and gesture recognition (like a live video chat) with the option of pressing a key to interrupt discussion (a window opens with a transcript of the last minute of dialogue with the possibility of looking up definitions of words uttered during discussion).
Group 4: Digitizing student/teacher records
Plan: to use free web-based social networking tools for everything.
Projects using MySpace, Facebook, digital cameras to piece pictures together to tell a story
Lesson plans – Googledocs
Bookmarking – Delicio.us, Furl
Waseda High School
Students use "virtual helmets" in conjunction with cell phones to live the life of an english-speaking character. When students donned the helmets, they would become an avatar in a virtual english-speaking world. Cell phones would keep students up to date on the status of their avatars.
I really enjoyed your presentation; I also worked in Japan as an Assistant Language Teacher and my students had extremely poor English skills. My high school was the lowest level non-academic high school in the prefecture so in addition to language issues I had to contend with the absence of motivation. In any case, I also found that the classes in which I used media worked best (movies, music.) Anything that made the language relevant to their lives seemed to work better - I think even the students were surprised by their own abilities (if they tried.)
There were a couple of things I am wondering about in terms of using tools like blogs for language learning. First of all, considering that this learning does take place in the context of an institution, have you considered possible liability issues when the communication becomes more interpersonal and has potential to cross some boundaries? Would it be the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that those boundaries aren't crossed (and is that even feasible?) I'm curious because I have been in a situation where the administration of an institution rejected the idea of creating an internet forum for members because of possible abuse and arising legal issues. I don't want to be pessimistic about the concept because I really think it's a great idea, but I'm just wondering what kind of arguments or workarounds you may have thought of to address these kinds of naysayers.
Secondly, true fluency in a language consists of more than knowledge of words and grammar; there is a cultural component that I feels gets lost in technology. As Anthony had mentioned, students are communicating in a digital culture, which is different from the original context of the language. Is there a way to give students a sense (via technology) of how cultural values influence the usage of the language? (That's kind of why I like the idea of learning in a simulated world through the "virtual helmets" to create a more authentic environment for communication. That sounds like a contradiction in terms!)
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