Last week, I had the novel experience of being in the interview chair for once, as I was questioned over the phone by Paul Gormley in his podcast series for the NDLR Modern Languages Community of Practice website based in Ireland. Surprisingly enough, he wanted to hear my views on using ICT to enhance the teaching of modern foreign languages.
Here is a summary of our conversation:
- teaching background and how I started blogging
- using ICT for whole class teaching or for use in a computer suite
- becoming a lead practitioner for The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
- trying to support and nuture a community of MFL bloggers and podcasters in England and beyond
- being inspired by examples from Scotland
- conference appearances and networking
- how ICT lends itself to MFL and what impact ICT can have on language learning
- rigorous grammar practice using self-authored interactive exercises
- practising verb conjugations with cycles of Hot Potatoes exercises
- the learning and motivational benefits of letting pupils use ICT to create their own resources
- podcasting and blogging as ways of communication
- launching the NodehillFrench blog and receiving positive feedback from the school community
- recording pupils with a mp3 player and editing sound files in Audacity to enable distance learning
- creating a blogging and podcasting culture and setting up a club
- using a set of mp3 players as a portable digital language lab for listening to podcasts and pupils recording themselves to improve their pronunciation
- giving pupils the incentive to listen to podcasts
- researching MFL iPod projects in the UK and USA at Astley Community High School and Duke University
- using coloured backgrounds for reinforcing gender in PowerPoint as a visual hook
- Animation Factory website
- using Custom Animations to captivate and motivate pupils
- using the internet to access authentic resources from the target culture
- the need for training and encouraging innovative teachers to share their ideas
- recommending inspirational bloggers to help get you started
- Ewan McIntosh as the first port of call
- Adam Sutcliffe and his vocabulary guide podcasts
- enabling distance learning with blogs and podcasts
- getting started with a microphone, Audacity and a computer
- coping with time restraints and not needing a lot of kit
- creating personalised content and no longer being restricted by expensive technology
- using audio files to improve pronunciation and creating revision guides
- having a real purpose and audience as a way of raising morale and engaging learners
- a few final thoughts and plugging my own blogs
The Modern Languages CoP website was officially launched on the European Day for Languages at NUI Galway as 'a community resource for sharing information and materials'. Judging by the wealth of interesting posts and links on the site already, the National Digital Learning Repository are doing a great job.
To download the interview, click here
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