Silvia Tolisano on iPods, digital video, Google Earth and moblogging

Having already blogged three times about the wonderful work of Silvia Tolisano, Spanish teacher from San Jose Episcopal Day School in Jackonsville, Florida, it was great to have the chance to finally chat with her in more depth about the innovative ways she is using technology in her classroom to enhance the learning experience of her pupils and raise their cultural awareness.

As in previous interviews, I used Skype and Pretty May to record our conversation which I then edited in Audacity before uploading here. Using Skype in this way, again brought home its potential for connecting people from anywhere in the world and letting them share their ideas for free.

Our discussion covered a number of topics, namely how Silvia:

• tries to harness the natural enthusiasm of her pupils and integrate the technology they already have into their learning
• extends the learning time of her pupils by using tools such as iPods and iTunes
• records her pupils' ideas on remembering different vocabulary items by making up their own 'donkey bridge' - Listen to some examples here
• uses Total Physical Response Storytelling techniques (TPRS) in the classroom
• makes video to explain how to tell the time in Spanish with her adult learners
• uses the potential of technology to appeal to visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles
• accesses authentic web resources on the net
• motivates her pupils by bringing different native speakers in the classroom via iTunes
• uses Google Earth to create virtual field trips
• moblogs on her trip to China
• describes the journey of José the bear drawing on ideas from the book Letters From Felix: A Little Rabbit on a World Tour
• recreates authentic cultural games based on television programme The Amazing Race
• sets her pupils to daily challenges from the blog such as the Terracotta Warrior challenge
• takes advantage of cross-curricular links and posting text, audio and images to a travel blog to keep pupils in touch and make them feel part of a trip themselves
• invents the term the China Trekkers
• dealt with comments and the time difference between Florida and China
• podcasted while climbing the Great Wall of China
• set up the Langwitches website
• uses Web 2.0 tools for creating a community
• embraces web-based tools and becomes less dependent on software installed on a single machine
• uses the K7 service with a set of students on a trip to Washington where they call a number and record a voice message which is then automatically sent as a wav file to an email inbox (see these alternatives to K7 too - Gabcast, Supcast and Gcast)
• spoke at
• describes the differences between speaking at a virtual conference like K12 online and being in front of a real audience
• sees the benefits of using an iPod as a learning tool
• plays video or shows images from her iPod on a television or projector. See this post for details
• drives to work and gets a daily dose of CPD on the way
• uses a cassette adapter or CD adapter to listen to her iPod
• synchronises an iPod with iTunes using an RSS feed as part of her daily routine
• envisages training teachers in the power of technology
• makes connections with others through the internet

You can catch the hour long chat here by clicking on the link below:

Download interview_with_silvia_tolisano.mp3

Comments

[Miss Profe]

Silvia's website is a wonderful and valuable contribution to teaching and learning in the foreign language classroom. I visit her blog regularly.

[Joe Dale]

I agree. It's great the way she is so willing to share all her resources, links and ideas so generously. I've been inspired particularly by her use of audio and iPods in the classroom.