Global Collaboration

The newest wave of educational services includes connecting with people on a global basis. The site ePals offers a safe, school friendly method of collaboration. "ePals Clubhouse is a safe place for kids to connect with one another; share and read their favorite books; write and publish their own stories; play fun and educative games; and create their own art...School administrators can rest easy knowing that ePals SchoolMail365™ is a safe and protected space for student interactions. Educators can manage and monitor what students see, whom they communicate with and how they interact." It has tools that a teacher could bring into their classroom, enriching the learning experience for the students. "Teachers use the free ePals Global Classroom to create real world, culturally- enriching learning experiences for their students." Their tools can be used to enhance the curriculum. There are a few key tools that caught my eye when looking through the site:


-Cricket /Cobblestone - Both of these publishers are an online book, eBook, toy, and magazine ordering tool. They have theme packs for varying ages and grades that teachers can use. If the school or an individual has wishes to go digital, there are "interactive games, music, and more" that can be used with such a subscription.


-in2books- "In2Books brings the Common Core Standards to life with a safe motivating online curriculum that matches students with adult eMentors. Students get authentic experience purposefully reading books with eMentors and sharing ideas about important issues via online letters." This program is only available in the States currently. It is a nice enhancement to the lessons occurring in the classroom.


-Junior Folklorist Challenge- This is a project/competition that aligns with the Common Core and allows for creativity. Students will need to research, document, interpret, and present information about the folklore that they have identified within their community.

This website seems to be a valuable resource to reinforce and/or enhance lessons for students. I could see myself using the ePals clubhouse and the SchoolMail365. Working with middle-schoolers, not a lot of them have emails outside of school. This would be a safe alternative to a generic email address. I would use it to communicate updates, reminders, etc. outside of school time. As far as the ePals clubhouse, it's an area for students to have fun with. Without some fun, lessons become boring and repetitive. If the school district was willing to pay for a subscription, Cricket and Cobblestone could be extremely useful at multiple levels.

Comics in the classroom

Comics of varying sorts have been around for hundreds of years. From political cartoons to Sunday funnies, people of all ages can enjoy their humor and analyze their meanings. There are a number of comic strip websites out there, but the one I'm looking at today is GoAnimate. It's free to join, but comes with a limited number of themes and a time limit (30 seconds) on the comic strip videos. This also requires an email address to sign-up, which as talked about in my last post, might be an issue for the younger grades. It's nice though, because within the themes, there are many options to choose from and objects that can be manipulated. Voices can be added to the characters, either through a voice file, a voice recording, or a text-to-speech option. Again, in the free version, the comic strip video can only be 30 seconds long, so it limits how much speech can be added in. Music files can be uploaded as well. It's not overly complicated, but does take some time. If I were to have students use it, I would definitely make them have a plan in advance. I think that overall, I would just use it to introduce various topics instead of having students make them. I would consider using them in the upper grades (10-12) potentially.

Idioms are used in everyday speech. When a student is learning any language, eventually the topic of idioms must come about. The comic below walks through some idioms that can be heard in the news or daily conversation. I envision it being an introduction to a section on common (American) English idioms. It would be discussed and broken down into the various idioms that appear in the 'news report.' This technology doesn't have to be limited to just a language classroom. I can picture any number of topics being presented through one of the comic strip videos.

Breaking News: Idioms by katiemcf on GoAnimate

Animoto: For the animated classroom

Finding ways to engage students is always a challenge. One way to make units more hands-on and interesting is using this website called Animoto. It's pretty basic software, so it'd be easy for students to learn. It also takes you on a walk-through of how to use it when you sign up. Signing up does require an email, so that might be tricky for those teaching in the lower grades/middle school. Animoto has a free version of their site that has a limited number of themes and limits video length, but it still allows you to upload your own music and pictures to create the 30 second film. I'm not sure what the options are if a school district were to be interested in 'purchasing' it.

This would be good to use in a variety of ways, and is in no way just limited to an L2 classroom. Students can use their own pictures or stock ones off of the internet to create a variety of videos. It turns a boring old picture into an interactive show. You can only add captions to the pictures, so the characters are limited, but it also forces one to be succinct. Below is a video I created talking about the weather in German. In this case, it would be an introduction on how to describe weather using noun, adjective, and verb sentences. I could definitely picture doing this with my students. It would be a nice way to either introduce a unit or as a means of assessing learning. For further ideas and examples of how to use Animoto, Kathy Wickline's post Bringing Lessons to Life with Animoto offers a wide variety uses.


Wie ist das Wetter

Digital Storytelling: Creativity of the future.

Digital Storytelling is an innovative way for stories to be presented that includes the narrative, images, sound, and even video.  "Digital stories can be instructional, persuasive, historical, or reflective" according to the article 7 Things You Didn't Know About Digital Storytelling. Storytelling has been around for a long time, giving it a high prestige within cultures. In languages that don't possess a system of writing, storytelling takes its place in recording the history of the cultures. Storytelling can evoke a variety or emotions and/or provide valuable information. 

As more and more material for the classroom turns towards computers, digital storytelling can provide a creative outlet for teachers and students to use. On the website Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling, there are a few main uses and benefits mentioned for both teachers and students. For teachers who are interested in using digital storytelling in their classrooms, "Teacher-created digital stories may also be used to enhance current lessons within a larger unit, as a way to facilitate discussion about the topics presented a story and as a way of making abstract or conceptual content more understandable." If the students have the chance to view a digital story, it can potentially clarify or reinforce the material that is being discussed/taught in class. When students use it, "digital storytelling can also be a potent tool for students who are taught to create their own stories." This is a creative means of alternate assessment. It engages students in the lesson, regardless of the unit. It allows students to have a distinct voice in creating this, all while using technology that most students use on a regular basis. Some examples of activities include: giving their point-of-view on an issue, provide a cohesive argument with visuals,  tell a story that focuses on a specific sequence of events, etc. All of this requires a use or practice of the target language. Teachers must always find creative ways to engage students, and if done correctly, this type of project can be used to activate many different learning styles and can also teach skills that can be transferred to other subjects.