Podcasts for ESL students

In my opinion, podcasting is one of the best tools for ESL students. It is a great way to practice listening and pronunciation skills. There are tons of different podcasts on the internet that are extremely useful for English language learners and as an ESL teacher in Argentina, I was able to integrate some of them into my lessons for my students. I particularly liked using BBC for podcasts. For this class, I decided to explore some new podcasts that I'm unfamiliar with and came across English as a Second Language podcasts by searching in google. I came across a podcast episode, English Café 319 that is about T.S. Eliot, a famous American. This particular podcast would be really helpful in a more intermediate or advanced ESL class where the students are learning U.S. History. I like how they give a little explanation of what is going to be talked about in the podcast as well as a list of key vocabulary terms that you can look at or look up while listening. I also like how they focus on not only the story of T.S. Eliot but pronouncing consonant clusters which occur a lot in this podcast. Not only is this podcast good for listening, but also for vocabulary expansion and pronunciation practice.

ePals

The idea of project-based learning is extremely useful in today´s educational world and what better way than to incorporate it with students from around the world? ePal is the world´s largest K-12 social learning website that provides safe and collaborative technology for schools around the world to connect and learn in a project-based learning network. There are plenty of useful features in this program but a few that stood out to me the most were eFilms on ePals for students, the ability to upload and share projects as a teacher and the family forum. This program incorporates students locally and globally, families, teachers and others who want to get involved. I would like to use this program for a number of reasons but one specific way I´d like to incorporate ePal

into my own ESL classroom in the future would be for my students to be able to connect with students from other countries and work on a project that pertains to a topic that currently effects our planet, like global warming. It is important for students to be able to work with partners of diverse backgrounds(and also a New York State standard) and I think it´s a perfect way for them to be able to exchange ideas and opinions on how global warming effects them on an individual level but at the same time be able to see how global warming also effects us at an international level. They´ll be able to experience it for themselves in doing this collaborative project, without having to listen to their teachers lecture about it!

Digital Storytelling using Slideroll

Make a Free Flash Slideshow

I used Slideroll to create a digital story for my ESL class. If you click on my digital story, you can see how I created a basic story for beginner ESL students to watch on American holidays. Of course, you can get more creative. I hope to use digital stories in my ESL class for the use of visuals and listening practice. For classes such as history and science, this would be a great tool because students could make stories reproducing cycles such as the water cycle, rock formation cycle or even a timeline of any history topic all in a visual and auditory manner; digital storytelling! I think it´s a great educational tool because it allows the students to be hands on and creative while at the same time implementing content area topics.

Digital StoryTelling Part 2--Bookr

Welcome to the U.S.A. Story

The story that I created could be used for very beginner English Language Learners. I wanted to make a "story" that was short, simple and that would be for a newcomer, thus the American themed story. I am not sure that I would necessarily call this a full blown story, but it could definitely be implemented in the classroom as a guide while describing American culture. Since it is very general, I would even let my students build off of what I have to make a more detailed story on American culture by choosing just one of the pages and going in their own direction(with enough scaffolding, of course). This story would definitely be used to work on listening and speaking skills since little words are used and plenty of visuals.

Digital Storytelling

Photo by Palos Verdes Library District


As an ESL teacher to be, I am glad to have discovered digital storytelling. I think it is a fun and creative way to be able to implement reading, writing, listening and even speaking skills in not only one place but simultaneously as well. In a nutshell, "Digital storytelling is the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component"(7 things you should know about digital storytelling). It is being used around the world, for many different purposes. In the UK, BBC uses digital storytelling to capture and share stories from around the country that reflect different local histories and cultures. In California, a local radio station in San Francisco collects stories from High School students about how they came to live there.In the college of Education at the University of Houston, faculty is coming together to educate students and instructors on how digital storytelling provides endless amounts of educational opportunities.In Buffalo, New York(or wherever else I end up teaching), I hope to use digital storytelling in my ESL classroom for many different purposes. Firstly, it can be used for collaboration purposes as well as individual purposes. Since it first begins with a script, I would ask my students to begin writing a story on how they arrived to my classroom from wherever they came from. Then, I would have them add audio effects(like music), animations, video effects, images and whatever else they wish to include. This would be a great idea for an icebreaker in the beginning of the school year. Also, since images and sound can be included, this assignment would work for beginners as well as advanced students. It would be the perfect way to be able to incorporate all different levels of ELL's in the same assignment(and in one place) because with digital storytelling, you can really alter the content to fit any level and situation. Educational resources like digital storytelling really excite me to become an ESL teacher and to start using these kinds of tools where I know students will be much more engaged in their learning process.

Microblogging in Education

As a future ESL teacher and a graduate student, I think it is important to be part of the microblogging world.  In the article Integrating ICT into the MFL Classroom, I was able to get a whole bunch of new ideas about useful ways I can use twitter as a teacher.  First of all, it gives us the opportunity to communicate with other ESL professionals.  It is a place where information is shared and where questions can be asked and answered.  It keeps you connected and gives you the ability to join and engage in conversation with other ESL teachers and mentors.  After reading the article 28 Creative Ways Teachers Are Using Twitter, I was able to get a better understanding of twitter and plenty of new and innovative ideas for my future classroom.  By using twitter, I will be able to give my students instant feedback(real time).  Another good reason to use it in an ESL classroom is enabling discussion and conversation outside of the classroom.  This is really important because it gives students the option to continue their English learning process outside of school. It doesn't have to stop when class stops! Share a story is another way I will integrate microblogging in my ESL classroom. The first student will tweet a sentence and each student thereafter will build onto each sentence all through twitter! This gives the students the opportunity to be creative and to work together with their peers while at the same time allowing me to monitor their stories and give them feedback. I am looking forward to exploring all of the endless possibilities that twitter has to offer as a professional and a future ESL teacher.

Learning with Computers

The Learning with Computers(LWC) social networking group seems like a very useful group to be apart of as a future ESL teacher.  This group posts many FREE interactive learning games for students that seem interesting and fun.  It also has many online resources for teachers and points to which ones are the most helpful for teachers trying to integrate technology into their plans.  This group is a perfect fit for me because it is beginner friendly(for teachers who are just learning how to use technology in their classrooms) and provides step by step processes for plenty of online tools that would be of good use to me in an ESL atmosphere.  It´s a good group to be apart of if you want to share what you already know and learn from others about how they integrate computers into their teaching. 

A teacher is like an anchor

A teacher is like an anchor.  

Today, in a rapidly changing digital world, it seems almost daunting to keep up with all of the newest technologies and even more difficult to decide which ones are worthwhile for educational purposes.  But, the time has come.  We need to take risks in order to ensure that our students are learning and engaged.  It is our responsibility, as teachers, to take advantage of the never ending sea of knowledge that the internet has given us and that enables our students to connect with others.   George Siemens mentions in his video, The Impact of Social Software on Learning that "The social software that we see today in the form of blogs and wikis developed in order to enable these individuals in a quickly changing knowledge field to continue to stay current and to continue to learn from each other".  This shows us how important it is to utilize these tools since they are there to encourage our students to connect with others.  After all, "we derive our competence from forming connections" (Connectivism, Siemens, 2005)

I came up with the analogy, "A teacher is like an anchor".  I believe that teachers of today are there to guide our students in the world of digital education and to be there for support, stability and security.  Today´s teachers should act as anchors in order to provide our students with the opportunities and knowledge that this digital era offers us.  As mentioned in Siemens´ Connectivism Theory, nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.  By using a more "informal" style of teaching (like chatrooms, blogging, wikis and so on), we are allowing our students to nurture and maintain connections which is crucial in the learning process.  According to George Siemens,"Informal learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience. Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning. Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks. "(Siemens, 2005).  Technology is changing quickly and in order to keep our students connected in the world, we as teachers need to be the anchors that support continual learning through connections.

Podcasts for ESL Students

I believe that Podcasts are an important tool for ESL students.  I found the post titled My 3 Favorite Podcasts on the ESL Technology.com blog very interesting.  The writer shared their three favorite podcasts for English Language Learners.  Two of the blogs are from NPR and the other from The Moth, a storytelling podcast.  I enjoyed the content of some of these podcasts and the topics covered within them.  As the writer mentioned, these blogs are geared towards more native-like students because of the high level of proficiency required in order to comprehend the material.  I commented on my concern for more beginner level students in regards to where to find good and practical podcasts for these particular learners.  I think that the given podcasts have wonderful material but I'd particularly like to know where I could find podcasts that focus on the consonant and vowel sounds in American English.  I've asked the writer if they could give me any recommendations that they have on podcasts or websites with podcasts for beginner English learners and ones that specifically cover basic vocabulary words and sentence structures.  Any suggestions?  

Digital Learners

A Vision of K-12 Students Today was created to inspire teachers to use technology in their classrooms.  This video shows us that our students are unengaged in their schools and are clearly unhappy about it.  The answer is simple yet we are still not acting upon it.  Our students want and need one thing: A digital classroom.  They want to use wikis, blogging, digital books and other digital technology as opposed to sitting in the classroom and listening to the teachers lecture.  A fact that stuck out to me in the video is that in China, there are more honor students than there actually are people living in North America.  Also, they mention that only half of the people in North America will graduate from high school.  How can we see increasing graduation rates if our students are unengaged in the classroom?  We need to ensure that our students are learning and growing mentally.  In order to do so, they need to develop higher level thinking skills.  They need to learn how to critically think and more importantly, they WANT to learn how to! We can help them develop and grow if we actively engage them and give them the opportunities to develop these skills.  This can be reached through blogging, wikis, digital books and hundreds of other technological tools that can be integrated in our lesson planning. I think the answer is simple.  TO ENGAGE OUR STUDENTS OF AMERICA, WE NEED TO INTEGRATE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN OUR CLASSROOMS!

How "real" is human interaction with computers?

In Chapter 1 of Robert J. Blake's A Brave New Digital Classroom, I was most impressed by the concept that "People's interactions with computers, television, and new media are fundamentally social and natural, just like interactions in real life"(pg. 3).  This quote was strikingly interesting to me because I once disagreed with this statement.  When I was living abroad in Argentina, I taught English online through Skype and I also taught face to face in a classroom setting.  At the time, I felt it was very difficult to teach online and I preferred my face to face classroom interactions.  I think the reason behind this was because it was something that I wasn't very familiar with so it felt uncomfortable.  I also thought that the lack of face to face interaction was just unnatural and a bit antisocial.  At the time, I thought that the best way to learn a foreign language was to immerse yourself in that language and culture.  Unfortunately, this can be time consuming and expensive, so it isn't any option for everyone.  While teaching English online through Skype, I didn't see people's interactions with computers as "real life".  The reality is, it IS "real life".  Although it is a different interaction than face to face interaction, it isn't any less real or unnatural or social.  My students had the opportunity to learn English as a second language with a native-English speaker and fortunately, were able to do this because of the Internet.  Most of my students would have not had the money or the time to learn English in a foreign country, so their interaction with computers, television and new media was their opportunity to learn a second language and that is very much real to them and to all of us. 

How to keep safe on the Internet

Dear Students,

The Internet is a very important tool for all of us to use. It gives us endless opportunities for exploration, research and communication.  It is important to understand and know that we need to keep ourselves safe on the internet and protect ourselves from any harm that we may encounter by using it.  I have put together a list that highlights the key elements of cyber safety and how to protect yourselves from any "cyber abuse".  This list will help keep you safe. Be responsible!

                                                               Cyber Safety Tips: Do's and Dont's

1. DO protect your passwords. Keep them in a safe spot and don't tell anyone except your parents. Make sure that your password is something hard to guess. Example: A random combination of numbers and letters.

2. DO NOT open any e-mails or attachments within an e-mail if you are unsure of the sender.  A lot of the times these may contain viruses.

3. DO NOT talk to strangers in chat rooms, messenger or any other form of communication on the internet. Only talk to people you know!

4. DO NOT post your address, phone number and any other personal information anywhere publicly.  This includes personal blogs, myspace, facebook and any other public space on the internet.  If you need to send someone your address or phone number, do it by phone or a private e-mail or message.

5. DO use a virus scan before downloading programs and games.

6. DO NOT steal copyrighted computer programs.  This is considered stealing and there can be severe consequences.

7. DO NOT copyright material and pretend that it is your own. This is another form of stealing and it is very easy to be caught.

8. DO use the internet to browse websites and expand your knowledge. Just be sure to do so in a safe and responsible way!

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Creative ways to use blogging in ESL classrooms

For Emergent English Language Learners, it is important to give the students a more hands on learning experience.  Traditional instruction is probably the most inefficient way to teach any one person a foreign language. Blogs allow Emergent English Language Learners to take control of their learning experience and have a say in what they learn.  Richardson says, "In essence, we write not just to communicate but to connect with others who can potentially teach us more" (28, 2010).  Blogging makes this possible.  In an increasing technological world, it is important to take advantage of the communication bridges that the internet constantly offers us.  There are so many ways that learners can constantly obtain new information through the internet and specifically, through blogging.  

All About My Partner:Social, Intercultural and Instructional Practices
Standard 1: English language learners communicate for social, intercultural, and instructional purposes within the school setting.

A good way to integrate this standard would be to have students write a journal entry about another classmate and post it to their blog.  This entry could entail interviewing another student to find out all about this persons life, where they come from and the differences between their cultures and American culture.  This is a great way for the students to interact with fellow classmates and learn a bit about a different culture.  In addition, it forces the student to practice their comprehension, writing and reading all in the same activity. 

Storytelling: Communication
Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of language arts.

Blogs are a perfect way for English Language Learners to practice their reading and writing skills.  Traditional methods of writing are very restricting to some degree.  This quote is a perfect example of how writing can be restricting whereas blogging leaves open endless opportunities for growth,"Writing stops; blogging continues.  Writing is inside; blogging is outside. Writing is monologue; blogging is conversation. Writing is thesis; blogging is synthesis..."(Richardson, 30).  In the area of language arts, storytelling would be the perfect way for EELLs to communicate information, ideas and concepts with their peers. Storytelling gives them numerous opportunities to explore the English language and allow them to be creative and original.  Then each student could critique one of their peers' story and look for grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors.  This allows the students to directly communicate and freely post on each others blogs while at the same time thinking analytically and critically.  

Math Lessons: Sharing information, ideas and concepts through blogging
Standard 3: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of mathematics.

In the area of mathematics, I think that blogging is an excellent and innovative way to give a lesson. For students in mathematics, a good idea could be to give students a five minute videotaped instruction on how to do a math problem.  Uploading the video to the class blog would be useful for students because they could go back to it for reference.  If the teacher is speaking too fast or they don't understand clearly, they could replay the video as many times as needed.  Repetition can also help EELLs with pronunciation and comprehension.  Another good idea could be to give students several different hyperlinks to mathematical websites, particularly websites with plenty of different practice problems. This gives the students the opportunity to explore different math websites and be able to have a say in which exercises are of interest to them. The students could also post on each others blogs with any questions or comments that they may have on the topic. This would be extremely helpful for students who prefer to experiment with the multiple ways of solving a math problem.  They would have all of the different ways their peers attempted the problem right in front of them.  This also ensures that students who learn differently are given the opportunity to explore different learning styles. 

There are endless ways that state standards could be met by blogging. I think in an ever changing technological world, foreign language learners should be given the opportunities to utilize these tools.  The good news is that they can practice comprehension, reading, writing and even speaking all through one entity; blogging.