My comment on Language Learning

This is such a fun way to get students involved in learning a language and for me as well! Its a conversational tool using native speakers who each speak their language for five minutes. Theres no pressure because you can just hang up if you feel uncomfortable and it splits up the language equally..so fun!

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2011/09/post.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LearningTheLanguage+%28Education+Week+Blog%3A+Learning+the+Language%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Verbling...a fun way to practice a new language!

Try it out it only takes 10 minutes to talk in English for 5, Spanish for 5 and then decided if you want to talk more!
http://verbling.com/

I watched the video Pay Attention which addressed the fact that each of our students is a digital learner in addition to the fact that they may be kinesthetic, visual, auditory, or a number of other types of learners. This video pointed out that there is a wealth of resources available to teachers which students are already familiar with, comfortable with, and enjoy.
One statistic which shocked me is the number of students who graduated from high school who think that their school work is something they will never use again in the course of their lives. As teachers it seems that we are doing a poor job of relating students learning to actual life and having them truly connect with what they are doing. Lee Rainie points out that "Teens were born into a digital world where they expect to be able to create, consume, remix, and share material with each other" (Lee Rainie) . We need to allow them opportunities to connect learning to their lives and to interact with material in a way which gives them ownership of it.
Combating the idea that students should simply listen to lectures and spit back answers it is important for teachers to use the materials available which students are already using. This trend of technology use is only growing for future generations, as The Kaiser Family Foundation points out that "in any given day, 68% of children under two will use a screen media, for an average of just over two hours" (Kaiser Family Foundation). Incorporating blogging, webcams, interactive portfolios, online collaberation, webquests, virtual manipulatives, and virtual tours will make the difference in students level of interest in the material you provide to them.

Brave New World

Reading Chapter One actually made me excited about reading this book. I was unconvinced that it would have anything useful in it but reading through Blake's Preface and first chapter convinced me that he would provide tools that were useful for Language teachers. I enjoyed that Blake said outright that he was not trying to replace face to face interaction as an important part of second language learning, but rather to create an avenue for those students who did not have the money or availability to have the face to face interaction.

One thing that really stood out to me in this chapter were Blake's staggering statistics on second language learning. I could not believe that "20 weeks of intensive, full time study at 30 hours per week" was the time commitment determined for learning a language. I understand that language fluency is a big commitment but when he gave the number 30 hours per week it really made me consider what I am doing right now to integrate language into my life. This brings up the great point of how we can train students to integrate language into their lives. Whether integration is through music, movies, or chatting on the internet with native speakers, it is so important to make language a part of what we do.

Danger!!!

                                                          Wild Web Woods
The internet is a great place with lots of interesting information but you need to be careful! Click on the link above to go on a tour through the Wild Web Woods to learn some things to watch out for, then read the list of rules and see if you remember seeing any of them in the game!

1. Use only your first name. Do not give out your personal information or address or send pictures.
2. Never agree to get together with someone you "meet" online.
3. Don’t believe everything you read. The person you think is a girl your age may be an older man.
4. If you become uncomfortable with anything you see or read online tell your parents or teacher. Do not reply to messages that make you uncomfortable.
5. Do not tell anyone your account password.

6. Don't get trapped by gaming all day!
7. It's ok to enter a nick name, but be careful if asked for full name or address.
8. Be careful when downloading things that say they are free! They might be harmful!
9. Not everything on the internet is good, there's lots of stuff on there that's against the law.

Blogging Lessons

One standard for ESL is: Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of language arts. Blogging can help with this because there are lots of blogging communities such as Stage of Life which have monthly blogging competitions including academic essay prompts which are then graded and assigned a winner who is given the title "Featured Blogger" for that month. This would be an incentive for kids who like to write but are not as comfortable sharing it in the classroom to expand their world and interact with other students in a way you never have to grade! 


Also, following the same standard of academic language arts, you can post questions on your blog and have students put the answers as comments which creates a discussion among the students as they comment on each others thoughts. You can then bring up any questions which had lots of feed back or unresolved thoughts in class to continue the discussion. 


Standard 5: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of social studies. In studying society and current day issues one of the big issues we are facing is obesity. A good way to connect this issue to blogging is to do a lesson on health and then have students begin their own food blog about what they are eating. Other students can look at each others blogs and comment on good choices that were made to encourage this classmates.