Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom:

Skype Home Alabama

joedale@talk21.com (Joe Dale) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:32:44 PST

Inviting a guest speaker to join your class for some informed conversation can be a valuable and engaging experience.

Back in September, I noticed from my Google Alerts that students from the University of South Alabama were blogging about posts I had written on podcasting. Intrigued, I got in contact with their tutor Dr John Strange via Twitter and suggested I took part in a Skype call with them so they could ask me some questions directly and we could learn more about each other.

Below is an audio compilation of the best bits of the three calls we made on the day and here is the link to the unedited video.

Download Skype_Home_Alabama.mp3

Hope you find the conversation interesting.

Here are some further ideas on using Skype in the classroom:

Hosting the TES MFL forum, moi!

joedale@talk21.com (Joe Dale) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:28:50 PDT

When I was originally asked to be the host on the TES MFL Staffroom Forum, I nearly fell off my chair! To say I was flattered would be the understatement of the year and I've been grinning ever since.

As part of the site revamp, The TES plan to have 'expert hosts' on all their fora to encourage debate and resolve queries.

This is not to say that I will be able to answer every single question ever posed about learning and teaching modern foreign languages since the year dot. However, I will do my best to help out with any issues I do have experience in (as I've been doing for the last few years on this blog).

Having used language fora since the end of the last century, I know that they are a great way of developing one's own professional development and learning from like-minded colleagues as are blogs and Twitter too. The strength of any online community is the willingness of its members to share their ideas. In vibrant ones, regular posters can become recognised as experts in their given fields over time because of the helpful feedback they give.

To single out individuals as hosts is perhaps too formal for some. I do appreciate this point of view, but not to the extent of turning down this fantastic opportunity which I see as somewhat of a busman's holiday as I already read posts on a daily basis via RSS as well as visiting the forum to check out replies to interesting threads.

It's also lovely to officially return to the site having previously written eighteen posts for the TES ICT blog and air my Times Educational Supplement category again.

So if you'd like to ask me something, just start the title of your message Dear Joe and I'll see what I can do to help.

Giving your PowerPoints the WOW factor

joedale@talk21.com (Joe Dale) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:39:51 PDT

One of the great things about streaming a session live or publishing a video clip of a talk is it can reach a much wider audience than those watching at the time. This is certainly the case of the TeachMeet phenomenon which has established a tradition of spreading good practice and attracting colleagues from around the world interested in developing their own continuing professional development from the comfort of their own home. In the Flashmeeting of the recent TeachMeet SUKE for example the numbers attending virtually matched more or less those who were there in person.

Thanks to the efforts of Leon Cych and Anthony Evans presentations were captured live and archived on Blip.tv helping to spread the word further. I was delighted that my talk seemed to wow everyone on the night and that I was able how PowerPoint can be used in effective and engaging ways.

To help you copy the techniques I was demonstrating I've included a number of links below. To see more examples of the ideas in practice check out the recently broadcast Improving your Presentations programme from the new Teachers TV series Better Learning with ICT. I've also created an audio version of the talk so you can listen and learn on the move if you want to!

Download Giving_your_PowerPoints_the_WOW_Factor

Links

Thanks to Mark and Stephen for organising the event and for the kind tweets about my presentation. Here are some pictures for those who couldn't make it themselves.

As seen on Teachers TV

joedale@talk21.com (Joe Dale) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:37:26 PDT

Better Learning with ICT is a new five episode series from Teachers TV which features innovative examples of classroom practice delivered by leading teachers from around the country. Broadcast during the channel’s ICT week in September, each episode shows an enthusiastic colleague visiting the ‘expert’s’ school, observing how he or she uses technology to enhance pupils’ learning and then tries to replicate the same techniques on return to their own institutions.

All the episodes can be seen from the Teachers TV website too along with some extra clips in the enhanced content which appears on the video timeline. Chris Thomas who stars in the episode on data handling has done a first class job in explaining in plain English such topics as how to get started with Wikis and embedding video clips into PowerPoint.

For me, the best of the bunch is the programme about Online Communities which shows how tools such as Twitter, Voki and VoiceThread can be used in the classroom to enthuse pupils and bring language learning to life. Lisa Stevens eruditely justifies her reasons for wanting to use such technology to help her pupils and I think she makes a great case.

I was lucky enough to appear in the first programme of the series Improving your Presentations which you can watch here thanks to the nice people at Teachers TV who kindly provided me with the necessary embed code.

Better Learning with ICT will be broadcast again on the television in the coming months, but in the meantime, if you can’t wait to check out the programmes for yourself, I suggest you head along to the Teachers TV website and get downloading!

MFL Flashmeeting 2 good 2 B true!

joedale@talk21.com (Joe Dale) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:22:59 PDT

Before we broke up at the end of last term, an enthusiastic bunch of us took part in another MFL Flashmeeting in which we discussed a range of topics including blogging, podcasting, new continuing professional development models and ideas for European Day of Languages. My favourite quote of the evening was from Alex Bellars, Head of Languages at Ballard School who emphatically characterised the learning potential of like-minded individuals networking with each other online and face to face with the following:

"If you think, sitting on our own in our departments we learn so much and then Twitter, our network and we learn so much more; with a Flashmeeting like this you actually see the faces of the people you are twittering with and we learn even more, but get us all in a room and we'll be unstoppable!"

A clarion call to be sure!

Hope you find the discussion and links useful. Here is a link to the original Flashmeeting as well as an audio version of the best bits:

Download MFL_Flashmeeting_July_2009

Summary

Introductions
what is your favourite post as a MFL blogger?
learning how to put a podcast on to iTunes
favourite posts v most popular posts
what is an online friend and why do we form friendships online?
moblogging in Belgium and France and receiving great appreciation from parents and colleagues for doing so
learning about the Congo by producing radio shows
creating resources to practise MRS VANDERTRAMP verbs and being Googled left, right and centre!
enjoying Nik Peachey's and Stephen Smith's blogs
writing a blog about a school exchange which was loved by parents and pupils alike
finding photos brought the blog alive
letting children lead the way and take control of their own learning
making a photo story and animating with modelling clay
stunning a class with the instantaneous nature of moblogging a photo of a child's poem on the interactive whiteboard and motivating others to want to raise their standards and have their work published too
publishing video clips to help students learn more about Moroccan culture and letting them do their homework online by answering five questions as a comment
Yr 7 and 8 pupils loving having their Vokis and WeeMees published on the class blog
using avatars to protect the identity of pupils online and encouraging them to write in the foreign language
moblogging with a MacBook and vodcasting with a Flip camera
Bill Bailey doing Das Hokey Kokey
using Wordle in the languages classroom and writing pro-active posts for other teachers to use
using blogs to inform and inspire ourselves and each other
getting started with podcasting
podcasting oral work with Gcast using mobile phones
trying to phonecast for free and audio moblogging from the sidebar of your blog
podcasting poems and songs to Podomatic and seeing pupils being motivated by having their work online
Being excited about being 'stars' on iTunes and having their work downloaded by their parents and grandparents so they can listen on their iPods and mp3 players
podcasting conference talks
using AudioBoo on the iPhone
the Modern Foreign Languages Environment guide on learning how to podcast
creating a podcast radio station and 'massively' improving pronunciation particularly with reluctant readers
not being too preoccupied by learners making mistakes as long as they are enjoying themselves
finding students wanting to listen back to their recordings so they can identify where they've gone wrong and what they need to do to improve
recommending our favourite podcasts
getting started with podcasting
listening to podcasts while shopping
learning how to communicate basic phrases in a foreign language by listening to short podcasts
raising language awareness in class by playing podcasts
articles and case studies on integrating podcasting in the MFL classroom
learning French verbs through meditation techniques and seeing test results improve to 80%
deepening learning through recording and editing
improving pronunication and giving a real purpose for speaking practice
creating distance learning opportunities by encouraging pupils to make recordings at home on handheld devices or with Audacity and emailing them to the teacher as homework
using the Levelator to balance the audio of different speakers
creating a podcast on induction day
finding pupils prefer to be voice recorded than video recorded
dealing with issues surrounding making videos and e-safety
using puppets instead of pupil faces or asking the pupils to wear a disguise
discussing ideas for the European Day of Languages
celebrating languages with a week of activities
involving parents who speak other languages
finding out how many pupils have relatives who could speak a foreign language
find out how many staff can speak a foreign language and to what extent
organising an assembly which celebrates languages
giving a prize to the teacher who speaks the most in a foreign language during the day
collaborating on the EDL2009 ideas wiki
creating a collaborative VoiceThread and encouraging thinking skills
collaborating with your Personal Learning Network
comparing cultural differences from different countries
using talking postcards to record 10 second snippets in a range of foreign languages, to do roving listening comprehensions and illustrate ideas with a non-permanent marker
using Easi-teach microphones to quick and easy audio recording
discussing CPD opportunities for the new academic year
organising the MFL Show and Tell event on Twitter in two hours
having a break from the Isle of Wight Conference, but still having face to face opportunities to meet up
networking over cake and cocktails
meeting up for The Language Show Show and tell
the TeachMeet model giving more colleagues the opportunity to share ideas in short bursts
keeping a work/life balance and not feeling pressured to blog
creating RSS feeds in Twitter Search to keep track of your 'core group' followers
checking updates on an iPhone when you have a spare moment
a few final thoughts