Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom:

Make your own school podcasts

 

Matt Lovegrove from Sonning Common Primary School has created a useful and straightforward guide on how to use Audacity to podcast. Matt who runs his own radio show at the school has done a great job in demystifying the process of recording an audio file, exporting it as an mp3 file and posting it on the web. Why not check out his guide and have a go yourself. I'm sure you'll appreciate Matt's sound advice.

Nodehill welcomes its new leader of French

Today was induction day at Nodehill and Mr Manchematin our new leader of French met 7JM, his new form for the first time. Mr Manchematin who is currently French coordinator at St Peter's CE Middle School in Windsor will be officially joining the school in September 2009 and replacing me as I take on my new role as Language Teaching Advisor at CILT.

To help 7JM settle in and get to know each other in their new class, I suggested that we showed them how to make a podcast so they could talk about their hopes and fears for next year and publish the results to a worldwide audience. I was delighted to see that they relished the opportunity and you can hear what they came up with by clicking on the link below.

Download 7JM_Induction_Podcast.mp3

Mr Manchematin told me he also enjoyed learning how to podcast and how he was keen to upgrade his own ICT skills in the future. I will certainly be staying in touch and trying to help as much as is needed ;)

While I was editing the recording in Audacity, the pupils wrote down their thoughts which I've included here too. It's great to hear and read how excited they still find podcasting and how they feel it helps them to express themselves. This is what they wrote:

• I liked making podcasts because I enjoy working in groups with my friends. It was fun coming up with ideas, listening to other people’s podcasts and being on Mr Dale’s blog on the internet!
• I really enjoyed making a podcast and talking about the differences. It is really cool it is going on the Internet.
• It is a good idea and we can put our own thoughts onto it and we will actually be on the internet!
• I really enjoyed making the podcast as we got to say what we think is it is going to be like in Year 7.
• I really found it cool making the podcasts as you could say what you think about Year 7 on induction day!
• I really enjoyed the podcasts because I liked making them.
• I liked making the podcasts because we were able to say our opinion about Year 6 and year 7.
• I liked making podcasts because it is fun to put your voice on the internet.
• I liked making podcasts because it is fun to let people know your ideas and then you are on the internet and you hear your voice.
• I think podcasting was a good idea because we heard how people wrote scripts.
• I think podcasting was great because it means I can express my views.
• I think podcasting is good because you can say what you think and you can put it on the web.
• I thought that the podcasting was a great idea and loads of fun!
• I thought it was really funny and cool but the best part was editing it and it was quite funny to hear some mistakes.
• I thought it was fun to record it and when we were listening back, I kept on laughing!
• That cool broadcast thing was so cool!  Funny when I listened to it.
• It was fun to do and I enjoyed it a lot.
• Doing the podcasts were really good and it was really funny when we had to edit it.
• I think making the podcast was fun and exciting. I think it was a good way to get to know people in your class.
• I think the podcast was really fun. I enjoyed hearing everyone’s interview.
• I thought the podcast was great and I told people how we felt about induction day.
• I thought the podcast was cool and we had fun doing it.
• Making the podcast was cool, but random. Everyone thought I had a posh accent.
• I thought the podcast went alright, but it was fun and funny.
• I thought it was fun and enjoyable.
• I thought it was interesting.
• I thought the podcast was fun.

Even though this may be the last podcast I publish as a Nodehill teacher, I am very proud of bringing podcasting to the school three years ago and putting my name to our eclectic back catalogue. I hope this will not mark the end of podcasting at Nodehill, but only time will tell.

Ripping to MP3 using Windows Media Player

Sirmorphalot has created a useful guide on using Windows Media Player to rip mp3 files from a CD so they can be incorporated into multimedia projects. Don't forget though if you are planning to do this you must have permission to do so ;)

Have a look too at his 6 part guide on using Microsoft Photo Story which includes:

• creating a project
• editing your photos
• adding text to slides
• customizing motion and adding narration
• adding music
• rendering your movie

and his tutorial on creating your own South Park character.

Cool dude!

Uploading mp3 files to Blogger or Wordpress

Adam Taha has created a useful step by step guide for embedding an audio player on to a Blogger or WordPress blog using the file storing portal DivShare. A free account gives you an impressive 5GB of space and you can upload videos, photos, music or documents. If you are looking for a free podcasting solution, this may just be it.

Have a look too at this previous post which suggests using Podomatic to achieve the same outcome. Happy podcasting!

Putting the Modern in Modern Languages

 

Learning Researcher and Magician, Kieron Kirkland has written a great article for the Futurelab blog  looking at how digital technologies are being used in modern foreign languages to create a wealth of learning opportunities for pupils and teacher alike. The tone is very positive and admirably captures some of the fantastic and innovative practice currently happening around the country.

Well done to everyone mentioned. Let's keep spreading the word and modernising our subject in the 21st century. We're leading the way! 

Sounding out AudioBoo and PhoneBoo

Walking through Audioboo from Mark Rock on Vimeo.

AudioBoo is a British designed free iPhone app which allows you to record voice messages of up to 5 minutes and post them online along with an image and your location on a Google Map. 'Boos' as they are known are automatically saved in users' accounts as mp3 files and joined to the same RSS feed meaning they can be subscribed to in iTunes or Google Reader. See this screencast for more information. Individual messages can also be embedded on a blog or website and their links cross-posted to Twitter.

Since its launch in March, AudioBoo has caught the public's imagination due to its ease of use, excellent sound quality and social networking credibility. Some journalists are even suggesting it could be used for reporting local stories quickly and easily.

Conceived & developed by Best Before Media and partly funded by Channel 4's 4iP project, AudioBoo also works on an iPod Touch with a wifi connection and external microphone. However, for those who don't have an iPhone or iPod Touch, but still wish to create short podcasts on the move, the team has created a new service PhoneBoo which can be accessed by ringing a UK number from any mobile phone, landline or Skype. All you need to do is register a number on the website, obtain your access code and you're good to go.

Phonecasting of course is not a new phenomenon and has been possible for quite a while for those wanting to create simple podcasts without the need of a computer. Have a look at this earlier post for a great example and listen to this Wes Fryer podcast comparing different ways of producing digital recordings via cell phone.

Unfortunately for UK based audio mobloggers, platforms such as GCast, Drop.io, GabCast and Utterli present certain drawbacks because they either only support US numbers or require paid for credits to use. The latter is possibly due to the worldwide economic downturn, but is frustrating none the less for teachers wishing to regularly create audio from their mobile phones without costing them a fortune. No such problem with PhoneBoo though.

Early adopter, Neville Hobson admits the audio quality of PhoneBoo is not as good as AudioBoo but this is because the latter saves the file locally before uploading it to the web whereas the former captures the sound remotely which typically produces a poorer outcome due to the limitations of recording on a phone. Listen to Neville talking about this in more detail on his FIR podcast with Shel Holtz.

Download AudioBoo_on_The_Hobson_and_Holtz_Report

Other fans of AudioBoo include James Clay, Documentally (Christian Payne) and Drama Girl (Kate Foy). Click here to listen to Kate's recent interview with Spencer Howson on the ABC Breakfast Show in Queensland, Australia about the new tool.

John Johnston has been reflecting on how AudioBoo could be used in education allowing pupils to make short audio recordings as podcasts and have others subscribe to them. To hear more of John's thoughts listen here.

AudioBoo is still very much a work in progress at the moment and has experienced growing pains in the first few months. Once these are ironed out and the infrastructure is established, Mark Rock, CEO of Best Before Media will be encouraging others to develop third party apps to create a range of exciting possibilities for users to share their boos in the future. Bootiful!

Have a look too at iPadio which also lets you create instant podcasts or 'phlogs' via the phone. Here's one about collaquialisms from the Isle of Wight from Mr Caulkhead. Makes for interesting listening!

So if ever language teachers and iPhone owners such as Lisa Stevens, José Picardo, Alex Blagona, Chris Holbrook, Laura Walker or Suzi Bewell ever find themselves disheartened by the state of language learning in this country, my advice to them would be to just start 'booing' and I'm sure they'd feel a whole lot better afterwards :)

TopGold's mobile recording gear

Bernie Goldbach has published a useful clip on Flickr describing the mobile recording gear he uses for working on the move. This includes:

• Sony ICD-MX20
• MXL 2006
• BeyerDynamic MCE 86 II
• AR-133 Active DI Box

The MXL is a condenser studio mic powered by a 9V battery and the Beyerdynamic is a shotgun mic powered by an AA battery. Both of the microphones connect to the AR-133 which needs its own 9V battery too and the cables are XLR. The clip was recorded at Tipperary Institute as a DictaPause moment from the Broadband Edutainment Resource Network. Great setup for the pro-level podcaster!

Vlogging on The Gadget Show

 

In this week's The Gadget Show, presenter Jon Bentley ran an informative piece on video blogging or vlogging where he test drove three webcams for their suitability for creating a video diary or vlog from your PC or Mac. These included the Microsoft LifeCam Show, Philips Webcam SPC1330NC Pro and Logitech QuickCam Sphere and John was certainly adept at putting them through their paces. Interestingly, the Philips webcam came up trumps with a 4G rating although he did admit that HD quality let the impressive device down.

John also had a look at the features of different video-sharing sites for capturing or uploading your clips once recorded. Unsurprisingly, his favourite was YouTube for its capability of attracting a large audience although he did also recommend DailyMotion for hosting longer vlogs and Blip.tv for its audio only feature (a good tip for podcasters out there) and download option.

You can watch Jon's review here and find out more about his tops tips on the best kit to get started with vlogging. Enjoy!

Lisibo talks!

Primary language teacher and MFL blogger Lisa Stevens is an inspiration to many thanks to her indefatigable enthusiasm and willingness to experiment with new technologies. Lisibo talks! is one of her latest projects and brings together the audio of some of her recent sessions from The CILT Primary Languages Show and Language World as her very own podcast.

Using the mp3 files of her talks recorded on her trusty Toblerone iRiver, Lisa has also created slidecasts of her presentations thus allowing virtual colleagues such as Andrea Henderson in the USA to listen to her wise words from across the pond. This is the power of publishing on the web and an example of how 21st century teachers can share their work with anyone wanting to take notice.

With this in mind, I would encourage anyone interested in getting into Web 2.0 tools to heed Lisa's 'have a go' attitude and watch this great clip from TeachMeet BETT 09. Her clarion call to techno-curious colleagues is both compelling and inspirational proving she is the sort of lady who can not only talk the talk, but walk the walk too!

MFL Flashmeeting comes of age!

 

Monday night's MFL Flashmeeting was a special occasion in so many ways. It was the first time as far as I am aware that 20 plus language teachers from the UK, the USA and New Zealand had met up in a videoconferencing session to talk about their passion for using ICT in the classroom. Secondly, it facilitated a huge amount of sharing and honest discussion about many practical issues we face on a daily basis in our teaching. Thirdly, it generated a great deal of excitement and reinforced the power of Twitter to help people connect with each and be part of a community.

Hearing about everyone's experiences was a joy and a validation of how much language teaching can be enhanced by the use of technology. The discussion was supportive and encouraging throughout and as I said at the time the learning was palpable. One of the tools which seemed to receive the most praise was Edmodo which according to Alex Bellars, Kath Holton and José Picardo, their pupils LOVE to use. Love was also a word used by Val McIntyre about her Flip Video camera and by Amanda Salt when describing her pupils publishing their Vokis and GoAnimate presentations on her Spanish wiki. 

It was also wonderful to hear how colleagues have been offering their pupils distance learning opportunities by recording model questions as mp3 files and publishing them on blogs, wikis or Edmodo for them to download. Likewise, it was great to learn how excited Lisa Steven's primary pupils had got listening to themselves on their iPods and on their parents' iPods and on their next door neighbour's iPods to boot!

The most flattering comment for me was when Alex Bellars described the combination of my blog and Twitter as being the best CPD in the world! Wow! (I'll pay you later Alex ;)) 

So thanks to everyone for giving up your Monday evening to take part in developing your own CPD and I hope to see you all again soon on Flashmeeting, Twitter, in the blogosphere or even face to face (perish the thought!).

Download MFL_Flashmeeting_May_2009.mp3

Summary

• Welcome and introductions
• describing your favourite technology for enhancing language learning
• creating mp3 or wav files quickly and easily with USB microphone or digital voice recorder
• uploading speaking practice to class blog
• using Twitter in class to ask questions from your personal learning network
• recording mp3 files on the fly and playing them back in class
• using Flip video cameras and dealing with playback issues
• using YouTube to raise awareness of culture and bringing language learning to life
• improving pupils' listening and speaking skills with Audacity and improving their independance
• motivating pupils by playing games and making lessons more interactive with Smart Notebook
• recording GCSE speaking tests with Audacity
• making revision podcasts for younger pupils (vocabulary lists and role-plays with accompanying worksheets)
• using a wiki to publish Vokis and GoAnimate presentations
• pupils getting excited about listening to themselves on their iPods
• listening to a bank of model GCSE questions as individual mp3 files on 'shuffle' to create an authentically difficult testing process
• pupils recording their GCSE speaking presentations on their mobile phones
• uploading teacher-produced model questions to Edmodo
• allowing pupils to export their speaking presentation as mp3 files so they can take them home on their mobile players
• describing Edmodo as a microblogging tool for education which also allows you to upload files and embed media
• using Edmodo to send and mark homework
• trialling Edmodo and then rolling it out to all year groups because of its simplicity and security
• learning how to use Fronter and comparing it to Moodle
• why language teachers tend to be more ICT-literate than colleagues from other subjects and feeling under pressure about exam results
• the importance of developing skills outside of language learning and dealing with the stress of the speaking exam
• involving languages in cross-curricular projects and creating programmes for the school's tv channel
• using VoiceThread, GoAnimate and Voki in the languages classroom
• recording mp3 files in Audacity or with USB microphone and uploading to Voki
• using the text-to-speech feature of Voki to check the sounds of Spanish
• dealing with the terms of service by creating Vokis directly on the site without registering
• recording the voice first before customising your Voki avatar
• creating a teacher VoiceThread and avatars for each year group instead of paying to register individual pupils
• using VoiceThread as part of an eTwinning project or as an assessment tool
• explaining different ways of commenting with VoiceThread and annotating with the doodler tool
• making VoiceThreads private, public or moderated
• creating a Voki and asking pupils to leave comments for homework as audio files from their mobile phones or text-to-speech answers (Kath's pupils prefer hearing real voices than TTS ones)
• using Voki comments for assessment for learning purposes (a practice recently praised by Estyn during inspection at Kath's school in Wales)
• finding that shy pupils are the first to want to use Voki
• using Qipit to take photos with a mobile phone of text on your interactive whiteboard, converting them to pdf documents and publishing them directly to the web
• creating cartoons with ToonDoo and being able to include accents
• focusing on producing good language instead of spending too much time on creating cartoons
• encouraging pupils to make their own creations in their own time
• drafting dialogues first in exercise books before going to the ICT suite, using word-processing software to write up work and then copying and pasting text into ToonDoo to stop wasting time in the creation of cartoons
• seeing reluctant learners getting excited about Glogster, being proud of their results and embedding them on their Bebo sites
• uploading audio files to Glogster
• sharing annotated links with students using social bookmarking tool Diigo
• using Wordle with Yr 7 pupils and trying to the making the word je the largest item by asking them to write about themselves
• putting song lyrics into Wordle for 6th form students as a pre-reading exercise
• making Wordle posters 'for fun' for corridor display
• using Wordle to discuss keywords as a way into a new topic, to link words and build sentences creatively
• pasting a short piece of French text and English translation into Wordle as a pre-reading comprehension exercise
• having a 'butterfly' mind and not following through with ideas you've find out about in the blogosphere or via Twitter
• rewriting schemes of work to encourage the use of Web 2.0 tools across a department
• grasping opportunities and fighting against the frustration of websites being blocked
• dividing the class in two, giving each half the Wordle of an article and asking them to draw out vocabulary before giving them the original text in full
• discussing the proposal in the recent Rose Review that ICT should become a core subject and play a central role in the new primary curriculum
• surveying pupils to gauge the type of technology they are using in their free time and teaching them about other exciting ways of communicating
• 'selling' the value of ICT to secondary colleagues and using the leverage that pupils will be coming into KS3 with expectations that they will be using new technologies in lessons
• the danger of overestimating how ICT-literate pupils are and appreciating that technology is not motivating to all
• using Edmodo across the MFL department
• having themed weeks and interweaving subjects together
• parents enjoying seeing their children's work published on the school website or wiki
• exciting pupils and colleagues about the use of ICT
• finding the funding for suitable training to get primary staff on board
• the danger of seeing ICT as a panacea and losing track of tried and tested methodology
• changing the attitude of some staff who may think that booking a lesson in the ICT suite is an excuse for not working
• improving ICT skills in the 21st century by drawing on different forms of CPD models (face to face or virtual)
• seeing Twitter as a cornerstone of personal and professional development for teachers
• finding the drip feed 'patchwork' effect of constantly sharing information more valuable and accessible than traditional face to face training which forms part of a wider personal learning network (Blogs, RSS feeds, The TES)
• Alex describing this blog and Twitter as the best CPD in the world!
• the importance of face to face contact for local networks and using Twitter to forge national and international links
• avoiding one way conversations by following those who follow you on Twitter
• attending TeachMeets as a valuable form of CPD
• using Twitter as a great way to connect and communicate with an immediate pool of like-minded people
• rationalising your time and restricting the desire to always be checking out the latest tools
• meeting up for cake, cocktails and CPD like a mini TeachMeet
• discussing the possibilities of future face to face meet ups as a replacement for the Isle of Wight Conference
• tailouring CPD to individual needs using face to face contacts, Twitter and Flashmeeting
• requesting open-ended questions for a film project in the streets of Marseille where the answers of passers by can be used for speaking and writing practice for GCSE or A' level students
• a few final thoughts

(José Picardo contemplating the prospect of inspiring his department next year by rewriting the schemes of work and including lots of references to the use of Web 2.0 tools)

Show Notes

Smart Notebook

Easi-Speak microphones

Ballard LangBlog and speaking revision in French and German

Edmodo

Edmodo: microblogging for the classroom

Edmodo: What students think

Edmodo and First impressions of Edmodo

Flip Video - solving video codec blank video problems

Solving the Flip Video Codec problem

YouTube

Audacity

Spanishgrosvenor wiki

Voki

Using Voki and a blog in a sequence of three lessons

Using Blogs and Voki to increase motivation and oral participation amongst boys in Modern Foreign Languages

Creating Vokis

GoAnimate

Go! Animate your lessons

Animate your homework!

Text to speech movies with Xtranormal

Scripted Movies in Language Teaching

Interview with Esther Hardman

MFL Show and Tell 07-08

Twitter

Tweeting with Year 5

My Class has a Conversation with the World

Fronter

Moodle

Moodle in MFL

Symposium Language Laboratory

EdTechRoundup Special on virtual learning environments

Interview with Adam Sutcliffe

TGStv

VoiceThread

eTwinning

Whitehouse Common Primary School wiki

Drew Buddie

Mrs Jones' Language Resources

Some ideas of using VoiceThread in Primary MFL

Estyn

Qipit

ToonDoo (see MakeBeliefsComix and Pixton too)

Use a comic strip to understand a conversation

Glogster

How to use Glogster

How to use Glogster

Adding Glogster to blogs and wikis and other problems…

AsiSeHace Glogster posts

Glogster instructions

A Great Glogster Tutorial

Creating online posters with Glogster

More examples of Glogster and ToonDoo

Even more examples of Glogs from All Saints Languages Blog (Eddy, Lizzie, Alice,  Nok, Michael, Aoife)

Scrapblog

Animoto (see also Stupeflix)

Using Animoto to promote speaking in the foreign language

Animoto examples

Animoto starter sheet

Diigo

Diigo links tag cloud on Langwitch! blog

Wordle

23 Ways to use Wordle in the MFL Classroom

10 ways to use Wordles in the Classroom

Wordling in the classroom

Year 7 French - Wordle

Year 8 French - Wordle

Wordle update

5 reasdons to use Wordle in the classroom

Barack Obama's Wordle of his inauguration speech

Ten tried and tested internet tools for teachers

The Rose Review

Computers enter learning core

Creating your PLN using Twitter

TeachMeet

TeachMeet Midlands 09

Networking over cake and cocktails

Radio Lingua Network