Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom:

20 Ideas on using Podcasting for English

Paul McMahon from Learning Solutions has created an overview of the sorts of language learning activities which lend themselves well to podcasting, drawing some of his ideas from a recent article I wrote for the new CILT 14 to 19 curriculum. Thanks for the great visuals, Paul.

7JD Induction Podcast

Today was Induction Day at Nodehill where pupils met their new form teachers and got a taster of what life will be like in their new year group come September. To help my pupils gel and get to know each other better, we made a podcast about their thoughts and feelings of going into Year 7.

To do this, pupils first wrote their scripts in small groups and peer assessed them. I then gave them plenty of opportunity to rehearse before recording each group with my iRiver as one continuous mp3 file which I edited in Audacity. That done, Chloe added a voiceover to tie everything together and I exported the finished file as a wav which I could then drop on to The Levelator to balance the audio levels of the different speakers. Next, I imported a Flashkit loop for the final mix and here it is:

Download 7JD_Induction_2008.mp3

I was delighted with the outcome as were the pupils. See their comments below:

• I think that the podcast is a good idea and it sounds good because it takes our own opinions.
• I think the podcast is a good piece of technology because it records our voices and own opinions. You can also add music and erase bits.
• I liked making the podcast because it was really fun to make and it takes our own opinion about it all
• I think the podcast was fun because I liked making our script and you can also add music
• I enjoyed recording it. It was fun. It also came out very well. It is very funky.
• I really enjoyed making the podcast because when it was finished it sounded really, really, really good.
• I think that Induction Day is a great way to get used to your teacher and everything isn't so daunting!
• I think that Induction Day is a fun way to get to know your new class. I like the podcast because we can show what we thought.
• I thought that it was fun to do the podcast as it was something different to do.
• I think it went well and was really fun doing it
• I think the podcast went really well and I like the funky music.
• The podcast is brilliant and very creative. I can't wait to download it.
• I think it is really good. It was really fun to record ourselves and it came out really good in the end.
• I think the podcast is brilliant. It took a long time, but it was worth it.
• I really like the podcast, especially as I really like technology also. It is a great way of expressing feelings.
• I like the podcast and it's a clever way you can make the volume the same.
• I enjoyed doing the podcast, but not just for our benefit. Other children at other schools or in years to come can look at our podcast and find it is normal to be scared on the first day.
• I really enjoyed doing the podcast because we could say our opinions and listen to others. also we learnt more technology! Thanks.
• I thought that the podcast was a good idea.
• I thought it was quite cool being able to do it and put it on the internet.
• I thought it was a really fun way of telling people how you feel.
• I thought the music was funky.
• I thought the podcast was good because it was really fun to do.
• I thought it was really good and I like the music.
• I thought that it was really good. Some bits were funny and I liked the music.
• I thought the podcast was an excellent idea and it was really good.
• I thought the podcast was brilliant because it expressed our thoughts on Induction Day well.

Well done new 7JD and here is one of those scripts ...

40 ICT Ideas In 40 Minutes

Andrew Field from Content Generator has uploaded his great presentation 40 ICT Ideas In 40 Minutes. Check it out now!

Podcasting for Teachers & Students

Tony Vincent from Learning in Hand has published Podcasting for Teachers & Students a 34 page booklet which explains in clear simple steps what podcasting is and how to get started using tools such as Audacity, Podomatic, The Levelator, Feedburner and iTunes. Listen to Episode 12 of his podcast to get an overview.

Check out too Podcasting: a step-by-step guide by Alan Carr available from Podcasting for Pedagogical Purposes, along with a range of interviews on podcasting in higher education in the UK including Pete Travis on podcasting for EFL/ESOL. An interesting listen.

Brittany 2008

Having slept for most of Friday, edited audio on Saturday and caught up with my emails and RSS feeds today, I'm now ready to blog about last week's educational visit to Brittany which by all accounts was a great success.

For those of you who follow my TwitterStream, you'll know what we got up to already. For those that don't, you can watch this slideshow or find out from the pupils themselves by listening to the recordings we made on the coach every morning reflecting on the previous day's adventures.

Download Day1.mp3

Download Day2.mp3

Download Day3.mp3

Download Day4.mp3

Download Day5.mp3

Unfortunately, my Gabcast experiment didn't work as all the numbers I tried when in France, wouldn't let me connect despite helpful texts from Chris Fuller back in England. I do know it is possible though as Gail Haythorne has proven with her pupils in Montpellier last week.

Next year, I may try Twitterfone as an alternative, if I can't work out what the problem is or bring along a mini notebook instead of relying on my mobile phone.

As for costs, the 30 odd tweets plus a five minute call to my head every evening came to about £30 in total although if I had been able to Gabcast successfully this probably would have been significantly more.

On the way to The American Cemetery, my colleague Richard Peace gave a moving talk to pupils about the Normandy Landings and the personal experiences of his grandfather who fought in North Africa and Italy during the Second World War which you can listen to here.

Download War_and_Peace.mp3

Hope you enjoy finding out more about our trip and thanks to those of you who tweeted while we were away. It's much appreciated.

Moblogging in Brittany

At 6.00 a.m. tomorrow morning, our Year 8 educational visit to Brittany officially starts. I'll be Gabcasting and twittering throughout the trip, so all of you can have regular updates of how we are getting on.

I will be interested to see how much my mobile phone bill will be, hopefully not too much and I will not be taking my laptop. So fingers crossed the technology works and everything goes to plan.

Adventures in Podcasting

While surfing the net yesterday, I discovered my post Adding a Podcast Pickle player to your blog was mentioned by Shawn Wheeler in his Adventures in Podcasting podcast in the RSS & Podcasting Tools section of Episode 108. In the podcast, Shawn describes some of the main features of the player which allows you to play a podcast straight from your blog. Nifty.

A seasoned podcaster, Shawn has published many useful resources to help potential podcasters get started. These include What is RSS? and Let's Build a Podcast where Shawn walks us through the step by step process of recording audio with free sound-editing software Audacity and uploading it to Podomatic.

Thanks for the shout out Shawn!

Download Adventures_in_Podcasting.mp3 

The Isle of Wight Conference 2008

As reported by John Bald in The Guardian in January, The Isle of Wight Conference 2008 takes place this year on 25th-26th October at Nodehill Middle School in Newport and will cost £100 to attend. As in previous years, the event will feature a host of practical sessions delivered by inspirational speakers from around the UK on topics such as:

• Mobile Phones
• Wikis
• Primary Languages
• Ning networking
• Songs
• Virtual Learning Environments
• Digital Storytelling
• Games based learning
• Gender differences
• Videoconferencing
• eTwinning
• Digital Voice Recorders
• One Stop Animation
• PowerPoint
• Interactive Whiteboards and Voting Systems
• Blogging and Podcasting
• Assessment for Learning
• New KS3 curriculum
• Web 2.0 tools
• vodcasting
• eCreativity

or as Wordle would say:

Speakers include:

• Sharon Tonner - ICT specialist, High School of Dundee
• Jo Rhys-Jones - AST in MFL, Kingswear Primary School
• Lisa Stevens - Spanish Teacher and eTwinning ambassador, Whitehouse Common Primary School,
• Carole Nicoll - Language Factory
• Drew Buddie - ICT coordinator, Royal Masonic School for Girls and eTwinning ambassador
• Nick Mair - HoD in MFL, Dulwich College
• John Warwick - Deputy Head, St Luke's School and eTwinning ambassador
• Kathleen Holton - HoD in MFL, Argoed High School
• Mark Pentleton - Radio Lingua Network
• Lesley Welsh – AST in MFL, English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College and SSAT languages lead practitioner coordinator
• Chris Fuller - Spanish teacher, Edgehill College and SSAT languages lead practitioner 
• Sharon Balch - French teacher, Swanmore Middle School
• Doug Dickinson - Independent ICT consultant
• Kathy Wicksteed - Languages advisor for new KS3 curriculum
• Adam Sutcliffe - MFL teacher, The Gordon Schools and Glow Champion
• Lesley Haggar-Vaughan, Shireland CLC manager
• Julie Adoch, HoD in MFL, Heathfield Foundation Technology College and her students

There will also be promotional sessions run by our sponsors Podium, Televic, Sanako, ConnectED and Babelzone and other publishers such as Heinemann, Oxford University Press and Espresso will have stands in the exhibition.

A free MFL Show and Tell session will take place in The Function Room of The Bargeman's Rest on Saturday 25th October and like last year, delegates will be able to sign up on the conference wiki if they would like to speak or just watch.

In the next month or so, I will publish a delegate pack including details of how to book, session titles, biographies, travel arrangements, where to stay etc on my blog which will give you plenty of time to persuade your school to let you come to this exciting opportunity for continuing professional development!

Here are some pictures and quotes from 2007 to whet your appetite:

Taken sooo much away from today. Thanks a million! Lisette Begue – Sneyd Community School)

Excellent. Well done to everyone who took part and looking forward to next year (John Bald – Education Guardian)

Thank you for running this inspirational event (Annalise Adam – Gregg School)

Excellent. Well done and a big thank you to the speakers. Really inspiring (Virginie Rayner – Wheatley Park School)

You surpassed last year. Fantastic! (Volker Green – The City Academy)

A great conference that has given me some great practical ideas to use in my teaching. Thank you. (Tamsin Cobden – Solent Middle School)

So see you in October and spread the word.

Microphone setup for Windows XP

Have a look at this VoiceThread about configuring an external microphone for recording audio on your computer. Sounds good?

Becoming 'New and Notable' in iTunes

Thanks to a kind tweet from David Noble, I discovered on Friday, that my newly formed podcast has appeared in the Educational Technology section of the iTunes chart at number 35! An impressive 13 subscribers have already signed up (according to Feedburner) and the podcast has been classified in the 'New and Notable section'. Whoo Hoo!

Sinclair MacKenzie from Sunday's EdTechRoundup Flashmeeting (one of the thirteen presumably) has even admitted to 'overdosing' for hours on episodes of my podcast on the way to a conference last week, glued to his car stereo, no doubt.

Seriously though, it's lovely to receive this sort of feedback as it reinforces the sense of audience (a key to one of the wow factors of podcasting) and it justifies the time it takes to produce broadcastable content.

So thank you to everyone who has listened in so far and particularly to the thirteen of you who have subscribed. A new episode will be along soon, I promise.

;)