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
Ballard LangBlog and speaking revision in French and German
Edmodo: microblogging for the classroom
Edmodo and First impressions of Edmodo
Flip Video - solving video codec blank video problems
Solving the Flip Video Codec problem
Using Voki and a blog in a sequence of three lessons
Text to speech movies with Xtranormal
Scripted Movies in Language Teaching
My Class has a Conversation with the World
EdTechRoundup Special on virtual learning environments
Whitehouse Common Primary School wiki
Some ideas of using VoiceThread in Primary MFL
ToonDoo (see MakeBeliefsComix and Pixton too)
Use a comic strip to understand a conversation
Adding Glogster to blogs and wikis and other problems…
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)
Using Animoto to promote speaking in the foreign language
Diigo links tag cloud on Langwitch! blog
23 Ways to use Wordle in the MFL Classroom
10 ways to use Wordles in the Classroom
5 reasdons to use Wordle in the classroom
Barack Obama's Wordle of his inauguration speech
Ten tried and tested internet tools for teachers
Creating your PLN using Twitter
Networking over cake and cocktails
Great post!
And thank you SOOOO much for the picture - you do have a gift for catching me at my most beautiful ;o)
Lisaxx
Posted by: Lisa Stevens | 10/05/2009 at 20:12
Thanks Lisa,
Glad you liked the picture. You have a very expressive face ;)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisibo/3451174974/in/set-72157615589464638/
Posted by: Joe Dale | 10/05/2009 at 21:09
Thanks for organising this event Joe. As a newbie (this was my first Flashmeeting and first experience of video conferencing) I thoroughly enjoyed it. The discussion and ideas shared left me so exhilarated I couldn't sleep that night! Look forward to the next meeting. Who knows, I may even be brave enough to say something!
Thanks again,
Saira
Posted by: sghani | 10/05/2009 at 22:25
Thanks Joe for this excellent summary and the links. I don't even remember some of these topics! Did anyone notice me ducking to the side for a sip of wine - Dutch courage! Obviously didn't drink enough as I didn't say anything!
Posted by: Kay | 10/05/2009 at 22:38
Thanks Saira and Kay,
Delighted you could take part. Next time it would be great if you could summon the courage (Dutch or otherwise) to speak. No pressure though. We don't bite :)
Posted by: Joe Dale | 10/05/2009 at 23:05
This is superb Joe - well done! Even though I couldn't be there, your thorough notes make it really easy to skim through and pick up loads of ideas - thanks to everyone for sharing.
Posted by: Helen Myers | 12/05/2009 at 16:56