Podcasts in the Classroom: Food for Thought

If you’re an auditory learner, you may agree with me when I say that podcasts are the best thing since sliced bread. Bread, particularly the kind that your grandmother kneaded and rolled out by hand, is an appropriate image for the podcast on food traditions that I have selected for use in my ESL classroom. As part of a thematic unit on food, I decided that a podcast could be an effective way for students to practice listening skills. Through NPR’s podcast directory, I was able to locate this podcast by food commentator Bonny Wolf. The three-minute podcast, which shares personal accounts of how food traditions connect people over generations, provides authentic listening material for students to practice their listening skills in meaningful contexts.

The content of the food commentary podcast may be a “stretch” for many intermediate level language learners. Therefore, I designed my lesson with the simple objective of listening for the “gist” or main idea of the commentary. Students are instructed to listen to the podcast and think of a title that best describes the content. I include several measures to scaffold students in their listening. Prior to playing the podcast I ask students to share holiday food traditions to activate their prior knowledge. Next, I define vocabulary that I identify as most likely to cause problems for learners. After these pre-listening activities, I give students the opportunity to listen to the podcast more than one time, with pauses for discussion where necessary. Finally, I give small groups of students the opportunity to work together to decide on a title for the podcast. In their discussions, students are encouraged to identify examples that support their choice of title.

Through lively discussion and teacher guidance it is hoped that students will arrive at a main idea similar to that reflected in the actual podcast title, Food Traditions the Thread that Links Generations. More importantly, dialogue about this well-crafted commentary is likely to motivate adult learners who are hungry for meaningful ways to engage with the English language.

Using YackPack as a Tool for Global Cooperation

YackPack is a Web 2.0 tool created for group communication, similar to an audio discussion board. Its capacity to bring together classrooms from around the world through private packs makes it an attractive option for ESL classrooms. When used in a language learning classroom, especially in conjunction with more writing-focused communication tools like ePals (see prior post dated April 10, 2010), YackPack can meet multiple language learning and cultural objectives for multiple levels of learners.

In my own classroom of adult learners I could use YackPack to facilitate a collaborative project that gives students a meaningful context for practicing English oral communication skills. For example, I could find a classroom through ePals Classroom Match that is interested in engaging in a project on “Green Technology.” Our collaborating classrooms could research examples of green technology that are available or being developed in our countries or local communities. Prior to communicating on YackPack, our classes could share with one other a written presentation of research findings. (A PowerPoint shared through Slideshare could be useful here!) Then I, or the other participating instructor, would serve as a pack creator and moderator on YackPack to initiate a discussion that flows from the research findings. “Yackers” could share their findings and perspectives on the latest green technology in homes, jobs, vehicles, etc. Participants would be encouraged to ask questions of one another and discuss whether advances in one part of the world could be implemented elsewhere.

It’s difficult to know how smoothly such communications would flow, but certain steps could be taken to create a positive working relationship. I would encourage students to upload images and a short profile of themselves help to help build a relationship and cohesion between cooperating classrooms. Also, although YackPack can be used for synchronous communication, I would initially choose the option of participating asynchronously. This takes the pressure off of learners to make comments spontaneously, and allows them time to reflect on content as well as language form before making comments. Lastly, I would maintain regular contact with the cooperating teacher to ensure that objectives for developing language skills and expectations for collaborative learning are being met on both ends.

ePals Communication and Global Citizenship

Today more than ever, educators have a responsibility to encourage their students to see themselves as global citizens in an interconnected world. This is one reason why ePals is an invaluable teacher resource. Several features of this program are particularly useful for enabling students to interact with people who are different from themselves on topics that stretch their thinking.

First, the ePals Student Forums and Focus-Area Forums are set up as open discussion boards allowing for students to contribute their ideas in areas that are of most interest to them. These forums are screened for appropriate content and are initiated through questions that pertain to specific website content (e.g., biodiversity, black history, geography) and other global issues, so teachers and parents are assured that student interaction is educational in nature.

Second, the ePals SchoolMail feature enables students to connect and build relationships with other students around the world through school-safe emails. The email has built-in instant language translation to aid in cross cultural communication.

A third feature that aids in establishing cross-cultural relationships is the Classroom Match component . This resource helps teachers to find a match with another classroom that is looking for a collaboration partner. Classroom Match adds thousands of new classroom profiles each month, and participating classrooms come from over 200 countries.

Another component, the ePals Projects feature, nicely complements Classroom Match by providing collaborators with structured activities, such as digital storytelling, to work on together. All of these ePals features facilitate global communication and collaboration. By using them students begin to see themselves as informed and active global citizens, not as passive spectators of the world.

With regard to my own ESL classroom use, I could use ePals Classroom Match and Project features to connect my students to a classroom of adult English language learners in another part of the world. Adult learners could share their observations of the culture in which they are immersed, and in doing so compare and contrast cultures. Students in both classrooms could compile for one another a brief description of the three greatest social challenges that they have observed in their country of residence (e.g., crime, income disparity, racism, access to healthcare, access to quality education). Students could support their choices with links to media reports and photos that illustrate the severity of the problem. Together the classrooms could identify countries where these issues are well managed and reasons for it. Since adult ESL classes typically include learners from many different countries, the wealth of perspectives makes this project particularly conducive to broadening students’ understanding of social issues and imagining the possibilities for change that may be realized through interconnectedness.

Flickr in a Flash

Looking for a quick way to get language students talking? Try using one of the tools provided by Big Huge Labs. This site offers numerous formats for creating visual artifacts from Flickr images. I used the Big Magazine tool to create a magazine cover for an activity that gives students practice in expressing their opinions.

Here's the challenge to students: A magazine publishing house has decided it needs to cut back on the length of its popular teen magazine. The editor-in-chief tasks her "editing team" (role played in small groups) to cut out three featured sections of the magazine as displayed in the right column of the Teen Magazine cover. Students must consider the interests of today's teens and express their opinions to their editing teammates on which three sections to cut and why. Teams negotiate opinions until they arrive at a final editing recommendation to share with the class.

Using Flickr images to elicit meaningful conversations that incorporate targeted language structures requires some teacher planning. The activity described above might include instructions for students to use specific phrases for expressing one's opinion (e.g., "In my opinion..."), as well as expressions used when agreeing/disagreeing with the opinions of others. The activity might also be paired with an open-ended activity that allows students more freedom to express their ideas creatively. For example, students may have fun designing their own magazine covers and presenting their finished products to the class.

Creative Commons Licenses in a Snapshot

Gone is the day when our creative works were relegated to photo albums to collect dust. As millions of web users are now discovering, we can share our creative works online without giving up control over how they are used. Creative Commons, a nonprofit that offers free copyright licenses, makes it easy to go public with the level of restrictions that feels right to you. If you’re looking to share your images with the world without the hassle of a full copyright, consider these six Creative Commons licensing options summarized below.

• Attribution: This licensing option permits others to copy, distribute, display and modify your work, even if it’s for commercial purposes. The user must give credit to you for the original creation.

• Attribution Share Alike: This licensing is similar to attribution, except that any derivative works based on your work must be licensed under identical terms to the license that sets the conditions for sharing your work.

• Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike: This license has the same conditions as the Attribution Share Alike, except that your work and derivatives of your work may not be used for commercial purposes.

• Attribution Non-Commercial: This license lets others to copy, distribute, display and modify your work for non-commercial purposes. Although any new works based on your work must acknowledge you and be noncommercial, derivative works do not need to have the same licensing terms as you established for the original work.

• Attribution No Derivatives: This license permits others to redistribute your work, for commercial or non-commercial purposes, with credit to you. However, your work may not be altered in any way.

• Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives: This most restrictive license permits others to use your works provided they mention you and link back to you. The restrictions are that your work may not be altered in any way or used for commercial purposes.

Not only does Creative Commons make it easy to publish works publicly, it allows us to appreciate and build on others’ creative works in a way that respects the originator’s desires. What a shame it would be if the above image by nutmeg66 was unpublished. In the case of this image the creator decided to restrict users from creating derivatives of the image. However, countless other images have less restrictive licenses, which enable all of us to build on the images, thus multiplying the creativity of the original contributor.

Blastoff into the Twitterverse!

Although not as catchy, a better title for this post might be “Preparing for Liftoff.” My first experience with Twitter has basically put me onto the launch pad. I don’t think liftoff into the twitterverse will actually occur until I begin teaching my own classes and microblogging with educators on a regular basis. After all, situated learning, one of Twitter’s greatest benefits, really depends on established social interaction between the twitterer and the twitterverse. Nevertheless, ideas from educators who are currently using microblogs in their teaching have stimulated my thinking about how I might use Twitter in my future ESL classroom. Here are a few thoughts sparked by those soaring through their self-created twitterverses.

A simple activity shared in Twenty-Nine Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom is word play. I could twitter my students in English and ask them to send synonyms for specific vocabulary used in my tweet. Taking that idea further, students could consult with their Twitter networks to get more examples of proper vocabulary use.

Another great idea shared in Back to School: Ideas for Twitter in the Foreign Language Classroom is to use Twitter for formative assessment purposes. If I ask my students to post daily tweets in English about a specific topic or to poll other twitterers about a controversial issue, I would have a record of dated posts that I could use to assess an individual’s progress over time. The accumulation of quick writing samples would also allow me to identify shared writing and language problems, and to adjust my teaching accordingly. I could also ask students to tweet me with their feedback on activities.

Other benefits of using Twitter in language education include expanding language learners' communication with native speakers and increasing students' interest in the target language culture. As a homework assignment, I could challenge my students to use Twitter to identify five recommended cultural activities in a U.S. city. In their research students would likely encounter tweets that scaffold their language learning and enhance their interest in local and U.S. culture.

At the end of the day, it’s fairly easy to be convinced of the advantages (for both teachers and students) of having visible, documented, situated learning at your fingertips. For me, the challenge of Twitter lies in making micro-blogging a regular and ordinary part of my life. The next obvious step is to start sending tweets and get comfortable with Twitter etiquette. As a professional it’s important to remember that having a willingness to share experiences and discoveries is what makes collective knowledge possible. Over time meaningful connections with edutwitterers will develop, but first there must be a commitment to launch into the twitterverse.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…

Developing Confidence through Writing

Writing teachers in various educational settings can appreciate the simple and self-affirming writing activity suggested in the blog post, Useful Writing Exercise for Helping Students Develop Self-Esteem. The post, located in Larry Ferlazzo’s highly-rated educational blog, Larry Ferlazzo’s Website of the Day, describes a 15-minute writing activity in which students focus on their strengths with regard to self-identified personal values. The activity recognizes that sources of pride and confidence are rooted in different values for different people. For many of us, reflecting on our values and how we live up to them is a very affirming process. The study results support this notion, and give writing teachers a concrete confidence-building activity to try in their classrooms.

As is typical of Larry Ferlazzo’s blog for ELL, ESL and EFL teachers, this post offers more than a practical teaching idea. It provides a summary of research to support the practice, and links readers to another post in the Education Policy Blog, which encourages educators to resist mounting pressure to eschew esteem-building practices (which, at the present time, tend to be negatively associated with empty praise and excessive self-esteem). The post’s links to the sources of data and to the people who have been influential in Larry Ferlazzo’s thinking, permit readers to probe deeper into the topic and develop their own positions about self-esteem and learning. Here lies a real benefit of education blogs. Not only do teachers have access to practical activities, they have opportunities to assess whether activities are well supported and align with their teaching goals and teaching philosophy.

As an ESL teacher-in-training, I find the exercise and ideas generated by this blog to be particularly helpful for second language teaching. Language minority students face extraordinary challenges in maintaining a strong sense of self worth as they navigate an unfamiliar culture. Writing tasks that allow language learners to recontextualize their self-worth in terms other than tests results and grades are likely to result in more than modest improvements in performance, they are likely to improve the odds of long-term learning success in a new culture and language community.