Book by the end of this month for the amazing early bird rate and start sorting your transport and accommodation now!
Come along too to the free MFL Show and Tell event on the Saturday night at The Highfield House Hotel where everyone is welcome to speak, sing a song or play the ukulele, if you fancy (at no additional cost)!
For those arriving on the Friday, we will be having a get together at Ceno restaurant as well. Would be great to see you there!
Check out this Google Map for more details and contact Zena Hilton on [email protected] or call 023 8059 9135 if you have any queries. Follow #ililc2 on Twitter too to find out about the latest developments!
Glenn Cake opened my eyes to breakout rooms in Elluminate. Claire Bartlett taught me about Tandem Learning and Dr Felix Kronenberg introduced me to the wonderful site Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon for finding authentic images which promote intercultural understanding. It was also lovely to see a familiar face in Catherine Ousselin who generously shared some of her ideas and resources with other delegates.
I thought Ewan's idea of the Monday showdown where a couple of us had to light-heartedly pitch our preferred tool for delegates to use to present their outcomes at the end of the week was also a cracker.
I very much enjoyed presenting my three hour workshop on easy classroom blogging with Posterous and it was interesting to compare the dynamics of a hands-on session delivered virtually as opposed to face to face. This was one of the topics Evan and I discussed in our post workshop chat over Skype which I've published here.
Thanks again to Evan for organising such a fab, fun and free learning experience and for my attendance certificate too of course! Much appreciated and see you again next year.
Last month, I had the fantastic opportunity of delivering a talk at The American Association of Teachers of French convention in Montreal and championing the trailblazing efforts of MFL colleagues from the UK about their use of new technologies to enhance language learning and improve continuing professional development. I firmly believe we are leading the way in this area and it was a pleasure to convey this message to like-minded colleagues across the pond.
As you can see, I chose to video my presentation as well as slidecast and podcast it this time. I hope I have catered to your preferred learning style and you find the information useful! All the links I refer to are included below as well as on this Posterous blog I set up so delegates could access the resources and download the PowerPoint immediately following the presentation if they wanted to.
I was delighted with the audience’s response both during and after the talk and I was made to feel very welcome. One kind soul left this comment which made the whole transatlantic trip worthwhile in itself!
“Your workshop alone was worth the whole conference! I received so many ideas, not just for my classroom, but also for my AATF chapter. Now if I could only invent a way to make more time......” (Robin Jacobi July 2011)
Here is the formal written feedback I received later too, once back in Blighty which in the main is equally positive. (Go fullscreen to read properly).
Before the conference started, I took the opportunity to go on a visit to the Eastern Townships or ‘Les cantons de l’est’ with other delegates from the conference. We visited the vineyard L’Orpailleur, tasted some of the wine and had a lovely lunch. Santé!
We also had a look in some of the antique shops in Dunham in the afternoon and stopped off for another food break before making our way back to the hotel.
On the evening of the first day of the conference, a group of us visited Château Ramezay, one of the only remaining 18th century buildings left in Old Montreal. As part of the entertainment, our two québécois guides re-enacted three different court scenes from the period and asked for ‘volunteers’ from the audience to take part.
Being one of the only males in the room, I was lucky enough to be ‘volunteered’ to play the role of bailiff l’huissier (a word I will never forget!) and to read from a script at designated moments. For comic effect however, the guides were deliberately speaking very quickly and using antiquated French on occasion making it difficult to follow the thread, leading to great confusion and hilarity! A very memorable moment! (Unfortunately no photo graphic evidence exists of said event).
Earlier in the week, I went to Quebec City too and reminisced about my first visit to la belle province in the early nineties when I was a language assistant, thanks to the British Council programme (long may it continue). Here is a short film I made of that blistering hot day including a québécois speciality Poutine! Hope you like it.
Check out too this tripline presentation which chronicles my every movement in a visually appealing way!
My pool partner is my former flatmate Stéphane who I’ve kept in contact with for all these years through Skype, Facebook and emails. We’ve also met up face to face a couple of times when I’ve had the chance to return to Montreal and St Jean sur Richelieu where he lives.
Attending a foreign language convention in another country was a fascinating experience in many ways. For example, I was surprised to hear many of the delegates speaking in French with each other around the hotel and during the excursions despite English being their mother tongue in the main. It was clear that this was one of the convention’s convention and although it took a little getting used to I found it really refreshing once I’d become accustomed to the idea!
Talking to some of the delegates, it seems in the US, that it is more common for language departments to be smaller compared to the UK and schools may only have one teacher offering a particular language in their faculty. Therefore, I presume for many, meeting other French teachers in this way was a great opportunity to practise. Please let me know if I’m talking rubbish!
Thank you to the AATF for accepting my proposal to speak and for welcoming me to their convention. I hope this is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship, starting with Facebook!
As a follow up to my participation in last month's innovative ICT Day at Medina High School on the Isle of Wight, I spent last Monday afternoon with the MFL department looking at ways they could use a class set of iPod Touches to engage their pupils and enhance language learning.
To give some structure to the training, I created a new page on the Posterous blog I set up to publish the podcasts we made during the two workshops in June.
Referring to Sharon Tonner's wonderful explanations on her I-C-T wiki, I demonstrated how easy it was to make different types of QR code with the site Sparqcode and within minutes we had created one linking to a URL and the other to some text. The advantage of the latter being that it will work offline as well as on. To read the codes, I recommended the free app I-nigma which works instantaneously when pointed in the right direction.
We then discussed how we could employ QR codes in language lessons.
e.g. For a URL QR code
To launch an mp3 file
To play a video
To visit an authentic website and answer some comprehension exercises
My favourite idea was to give students cards with QR codes on them linking to a text response whereby they would have to find their partner who had the answer to their question or the same information as them. Preparing the exercise wouldn't be too time-consuming as you could use the Teachers Pet toolbar to make picture flashcards in a few clicks or copy and paste multiple QR codes into a Word document, print it off on to card and cut them up from there.
Alternatively, you could just use Russell Tarr's wonderful QR Treasure Hunt Generator! which simplifies the process even more by creating the necessary QR codes for each question along with an answer sheet. Moreover, your devices don't have to be online for this to work and you need to input a minimum of five questions and answers. Try out his bookmarklet too which can generate a QR code of the web page you are on or any highlighted text on that page! The QR codes can then be copied and pasted into a document, printed off and cut up as previously suggested. The beauty of the text ones is that they don't need a connected device to work. Just think of the exciting exercises this could generate in MFL and yes QR codes can deal with accents!
Have a look too at QR code voting with Qwikvotes! The idea is a teacher sets the question, students scan generated QR code of their choice and then teacher clicks on show results.
For QR codes which link to URLs, another way of saving time would be to create a customised URL using the link shortening service Snipurl. This would mean you could use the same QR code, but change the URL it launches each time.
By clicking on the Manage Snips tab and Edit, you can see that you can change the Long URL and hit the Save Changes button without changing the shortened form. In this way, you can create a range of customised links with different nicknames e.g medinamfl1, medinamfl2 etc and generate QR codes for each one. These QR codes will not need to change because they will always link to the same customised URL. However, by changing the Long URL, the link that opens as a result can be different and so could be regularly updated for different purposes.
If you add a Private Key to your customised link, you will need to enter it and click Fetch my URL before being able to access the desired web page. To avoid this extra step, but keep your snipping private, you can add your Private Key after your link e.g. http://sn.im/medinamfl-medina
Both methods will ensure your snippings will not appear in the public timeline so it's up to you to choose which you prefer. Unfortunately, this will not work with text QR Codes only URL ones.
There are various apps which allow you to generate a QR code directly from your iPod Touch. Easy QR is my favourite as it is free and has a very simple clean interface. Using the text option, you can create QR codes for texts as well as URLs and save them as images in your Camera Roll so they can be scanned later.
One idea would be to make a QR code from a long piece of text and display the image on the board. Pupils could scan it in and then complete a Google Form also accessed via a QR code to show they had understood the contents. To finish, you could display the results on the board and go over the answers. Alternatively, pupils could generate their own QR codes and do a pair or group work activity which you would traditionally complete on paper.
To inspire us with further possibilities we checked out the wonderful 40 interesting ways of using QR codes in education to see which ideas lent themselves well to MFL. Vicky Davis's post QR Code Classroom Implementation Guide is also full of good advice and recommends Kaywa and FireFox add-on Mobile Barcoder for generating QR codes. The latter works straight from the bottom right corner of the browser which could be useful when presenting on an interactive whiteboard and asking students to scan from their devices.
Use Russel Tarr’s bookmarklet to create giant URL QR codes in one click on the interactive whiteboard so students can quickly scan them and transfer the content on to their handheld device. See this process in action in this clip from Ollie Bray published in 2008. To create a text QR code, highlight the text in question first before clicking the bookmarklet.
Give students QR codes which link to revision PowerPoint presentations you’ve published on Slideshare so they can watch them on their mobile devices. You could embed a YouTube clip containing supplementary material which runs on one of the slides. This would work fine unless you wanted to make a Slidecast by synchronising an mp3 file with your presentation in which case, you could add a QR code on the slide in question and ask students to pause, watch the clip and then press play again. The QR code linking to the SlideShare version of a class presentation could be added to the last slide as a matter of course.
To enhance a departmental portfolio of levelled pieces of work, use QR codes to launch audio or video clips as evidence of speaking. Likewise, add QR codes to your prospectus linking to impressive multimedia outcomes highlighting the strengths of the school.
Use Sparqcode to generate a set of QR codes linking to Google Maps for a lesson on directions. Give pupils written or spoken instructions for where they need to go via a text or URL QR code and ask them to label the final destination they reach having followed the instructions.
Give pupils a QR code which launches the email client on their handheld device as a way of simplifying the process of handing in work or sending you the URL of a web based project they’ve completed. This could be the email they need to publish resources on to a class Posterous site although they could use the dedicated app for this as well.
Create a text QR code for the login details needed to access a site or resource so they are always kept in the device’s history. In the same way, use a QR code to access the school’s wifi system!
Stick a URL QR code linking to work carried out in an ICT suite as proof of outcomes in pupils’ exercise books.
Create a QR code of an RSS feed to make it easier for students to subscribe to blogs and podcasts.
Use Snap.vu or BWScan to find out how many times a QR code has been scanned and by how many unique visitors. Choose the former if you want to clear results and receive email notifications. Choose the latter for more detailed analytics
For ILILC 2012, I’ve been reflecting on the possibilities of integrating QR codes into procedures and so far have come up with the following:
Create a QR code which links to a mobile friendly WebDoc full of multimedia goodness. Thanks to Shelly Terrell for the inspiration for this idea. This could be incorporated into a blog badge or added to any paper literature about the conference.
Put a QR code next to speaker’s bios in the conference programme which link to their respective blogs.
Create a multimedia QR code quiz to be completed between presentations at the MFL Show and Tell. Pub Quiz for the 21st century?
Here is an example Free Text poll to show you how it works with the iPod Touch or any other handheld device connected to the web.
click Save new poll.
On the right hand side, untick the box next to Text messages from and make sure there is a tick in the box by Web devices on.
Make a note of the number you need to use for your web response and go to http://pollev.com to submit it with your answer.
Return to the page where the answers to your poll are displayed to see your response.
Please note you can carry out a poll without being registered and your answers will be deleted after two weeks. Once the poll is finished though you can choose to click the Stop Poll button. You can also download a PowerPoint slide which contains the poll too and include it in a presentation.
Next we looked at recording audio on the iPod Touch. There are many apps which allow you to do this including the default Voice Memos app. One issue is the format the audio records in (m4a, AIFF, mp3, caf etc) and the second is how to transfer it off the device, if it needs editing and publishing.
John Johnston is an expert in this field and has recommended two apps to me. The first is iTalk recorder which is free, allows you to rename your files on the device and lets you sync your recordings with your PC with the free iTalk Sync program. It records audio as AIFF files which means they can be edited in Audacity and converted to mp3 using the Lame encoder.
The second app is VR+ Voice which costs £1.19 on the app store and records directly as mp3. You can also transfer the files wirelessly from the device to a computer using a URL. Listen to John singing its praises here as well as Wifi Photo Transfer which works in the same way, but for images.
I demoed iTalk and showed how to download files from the iPod Touch. They were suitably impressed!
To finish the session we talked about file management using DropBox and touched upon the digital storytelling apps SonicPics and Our Story. The latter looks particularly good and was designed by the Open University to promote reading.
Check out as well my MFLedapps blog which features links and video clips of many apps I feel could be useful in enhancing language learning. I've used tags on the right hand side to specify in which skill area they could be particularly effective, if they are free or not and if they are for the iPod or iPad. A good place to find educational apps is on Twitter. Search for edapps and you're bound to find some gems!
I'll be very interested to hear how the MFL department at Medina get on with the iPods next academic year and see what impact they have on the pupils' learning. I hope they keep in Touch ;-)
For the last few months, I've been working with Zena Hilton, Links into Languages South East Regional Manager and Jo Rhys-Jones, Primary Languages Consultant on an awesome event we're calling the ICT Links into Languages conference which takes place on the weekend of 12th-13th February 2011 at Southampton University. Modelled on the legendary Isle of Wight Conference, it features an extensive programme of seminars and hands-on workshops delivered by some of the most creative and innovative language professionals working in the UK today.
Wendy Adeniji - Independent MFL Consultant
Teach them to pronounce it right! (Seminar)
iLanguages: teach them the usual in an unusual way (Seminar)
Jackie Berry - Primary Languages Consultant, Hampshire LA
PowerPoint Magic: presentation tips and tricks for the languages classroom (Seminar)
Getting started with screen casting (Seminar)
Suzi Bewell - PGCE MFL Curriculum Area Leader, University of York
Going global! The importance of Intercultural Understanding (Seminar)
MYLO – an exciting new way to learn languages (Hands-on workshop)
Alex Blagona - Language college coordinator, Northgate High School
Collaborate, Communicate, Consolidate – How wikis can transform learning in MFL (Hands-on workshop)
An A-Z road map of ICT resources in MFL (Seminar)
Joe Dale - Independent MFL Consultant
If you build it, they will come! The rise and rise of the MFL Twitterati (Keynote)
Podcasting with Audacity (Hands-on workshop)
Catherine Elliott - Training Manager at Sheffield South City Learning Centre
Encouraging creativity in languages through animation (Hands-on workshop)
First steps in using video in the MFL classroom (Hands-on workshop)
Chris Fuller - Educational Consultant
Moblogging across the universe (Seminar)
Typepad – I blog, you blog, we blog (Hands-on workshop)
Esther Hardman - Teacher of French, Spanish and German, Curriculum Development Coordinator for MFL (ICT), Weald of Kent Grammar School
Flashmeeting for easy videoconferencing (Seminar)
Using ICT to enhance teaching and learning in MFL (Seminar)
Dale Hardy - Primary & Secondary Languages Consultant, Nottingham City LA, Links into Languages regional trainer & CILT KS2 framework trainer
So you have a school link? Now what do you do with it? (Seminar)
Gifted and talented linguists – Identification, Inclusion, Provision: Using simple techniques as well as ICT (Seminar)
Chris Harte - Assistant Head Teacher for Personalised Learning, author and trainer on PLTS in language learning, Cramlington Learning Village
Managing social learning – Edmodo (Hands-on workshop)
Languages: Reboot (Seminar)
Rachel Hawkes - Assistant Principal, Director of Languages, AST and SSAT Languages Lead Practitioner, TES Resources Languages Advisor, Comberton Village College
Get real! Language Learning for the 21st century (Keynote)
Kath Holton - Head of Languages, Argoed High School
Using voice and video recorders in the classroom (Seminar)
Interactive Web 2.0 tools to enhance learning (Seminar)
Isabelle Jones - Head of Languages, The Radclyffe School
Personal Learning and Thinking Skills in the MFL classroom (Seminar)
Inspire, Create, Share: Developing the use of ICT in the MFL faculty (Seminar)
Helen Myers - Teacher of French, Assistant Head, The Ashcombe School; Chair of ALL London branch; ALL former President
Add a dimension to your teaching: an introduction to language learning in Virtual Worlds (Seminar)
Let the technology take the strain!How ICT can provide the motivation and the inspiration for the hard grind of language learning! (Seminar)
Jo Rhys-Jones - Primary Languages Consultant, Hampshire LA
Simple and effective tips for transition KS2-KS3 (Seminar)
Making languages games for your VLE/blog (Hands-on workshop)
Amanda Salt - Head of Spanish, Grosvenor Grammar School
Integrating ICT into an MFL department (Seminar)
Using Web 2.0 tools in the MFL classroom (Hands-on workshop)
Clare Seccombe - Sunderland LA Support Teacher for Primary Languages and the International Dimension
MFL Sunderland – It’s good to share! (Seminar)
Arts Smart! (incorporating art, music, drama etc) (Seminar)
Lisa Stevens - PLL educator and consultant, Apple Distinguished Educator and eTwinning Ambassador
What can eTwinning do for you? (Seminar)
Tell me a story! (Hands-on workshop)
Lesley Welsh - Director of Languages and the International Dimension at Manor College of Technology
Keeping it real – maximising the use of authentic materials (Seminar)
Funky flipcharts and interesting interactivity (Seminar)
If you are at all interested in how technology can enhance language learning in the 21st century, this is a must attend event and at £100 for both days or £75 for one (discounted rates for PGCE students), it is unbelievably good value for money too.
If this wasn't enough, there will also be a free MFL Show and Tell event on the Saturday evening at the University of Southampton Sports Ground where anyone who wants to share their good practice can have the opportunity to do so.
and to finish ...
Let us not forget despite the very sad news this week that the UK government has decided to no longer fund the Links into Languages programme post March 2011, this conference is certainly something to look forward to and celebrate. In these cash strapped times, who knows when we will have the opportunity to pool such expertise in ICT and MFL again? Please support this event, spread the word and sign up here.
During the recording, Catherine kindly explains how she structures each activity and the tools that she uses, most of which are free or inexpensive. Her tips on animation are particularly interesting such as keeping to the 12 frame per second rule and using onion-skinning to create a smooth movement effect.
I liked the way Catherine expressed her pupils' enthusiasm for having their work published to a real audience and her suggestions on ensuring they do so safely by giving them Spanish or French names and changing the pitch of their voices in Audacity before publishing their Vokis.
Catherine is now investigating the potential of mindmapping app Idea Sketch and UNESCO photo sharing app Heritage for the iPad. She could have a look at History Pin too which is a nice site for comparing scenic photos from the past with their modern day equivalents. A good vehicule for practising tenses potentially.
If this isn't impressive enough, Catherine is going to run another three day summer school next year but in German this time which she does admit is her first foreign language. In the meantime, her plans include setting up a collaborative blog for two secondary schools taking part in a German exchange and letting them experiment with I-GotU GPS trackers on a field trip to York as part of a Google Maps project. GPS Mission could be worth exploring toofor this.
It was fascinating talking to Catherine about all her innovative approaches towards language learning and I hope you enjoy listening back to her fabulous ideas too. Thank you.
Gregory who has only been teaching Spanish for two years first got into recording his computer screen as a way of creating short how to guides for his colleagues to help them learn how to use different software packages they needed in school. Then in March of this year, he read about the inspiring work of Andrew B Watts and Shelly Blake-Plock and realised Jing had a whole new potential which fitted in well with his desire to create a paperless classroom where every child has access to their own laptop.
His experiment so far certainly seems to be working and according to Gregory, the reaction from his students has been very positive and their work has significantly improved as a result. I particularly like this quote which reinforces his feelings about the value of screencasting and how it has changed the way he teaches now.
"I don’t think I’d ever go back to giving feedback on paper again because it’s lacking to me because they’re not listening to it and they’re not actually seeing the process grow on their screen because when they watch the video and they see their first, second, third draft, they see this new story. They can see their story growing and they can see the entire writing process as a process and not as something that you just stamp on a piece of paper and then get a different piece of paper later on."
I appreciate Gregory's honesty in clarifying how long a class set of screencasts takes to record and for admitting the mistakes he has made along the way. I also liked the way his students got on board immediately and found the non-traditional approach less threatening, more like an ongoing conversation than a critique.
Gregory has also now started making mini-lessons as screencasts which offer further distance learning opportuities for his students and posting them on his class site.
He is also looking at ways of annotating over the top of his screencast and would appreciate any suggestions on how to do this most effectively.
In the future, Gregory would like to encourage his students to use Jing to make their own screencasts of mindmaps, Prezi presentations and other multimedia applications. I look forward to seeing how this project develops. As always, your feedback is most welcome!
Over the last few days, keen animator and fan of PowerPoint, 16 year old Julien B from Marseille has been publishing some truly wonderful interpretations of the famous 17th century fables by Jean de la Fontaine on his YouTube channel misterallanpoe. Made in the genre of a silent movie, each clip tells its own story simply and effectively using a range of techniques to bring the action to life.
As Julien has kindly provided a download link for each PowerPoint, you can unpick exactly how he achieves each effect and perhaps copy the ideas to tell your own stories in a language of your choice. This could be a great way to encourage your pupils to try out some digital storytelling using an authentic resource as a springboard for their own ideas and creativity.
To download the presentations, click on one of the above and copy the link in the onscreen prompt or click on the (more info) link underneath each clip in YouTube and then the click the direct link from there. This will take you to the relevant page on Megaupload, the site Julien has used to upload his PowerPoints where you have to type in a four character code before clicking the download file button. Wait 45 seconds and then click the Regular download button. Click Save on the dialogue box which appears and choose where you want to download the file. Easy.
For more ideas on using animation in the MFL classroom, have a look at this article which appeared in yesterday's TESS featuring Mark Pentleton, some plasticine, a Mac Book and lots of Mandarin Chinese!
There's also this video case study filmed for CILT in 2008 where Gemma Fordyce shows how to create comics in Word to develop writing skills and engender a sense of achievement in pupils who find foreign language study challenging.
For more inspiration on the potential of comics in the classroom, check out this brilliant Google Doc which has been put together by a number of different teachers and contains many useful tips and tricks.
Songsmith is a clever little tool which is designed to generate a backing track automatically to match the sound of your voice. Created by Microsoft Research, the academic version is now available from the MS Innovative Teachers Network (registration required) as a free download and although it may be 102MB in size it is worth the wait. Have a look at this cheesy commercial to get an overview of its potential!
Having played around with Songsmith for the last couple of days, I can see the obvious potential for using it in the modern foreign languages classroom at both primary and secondary level to bring to life speaking practice such as dialogues, verb drills, spelling revision, poems and songs and to improve pronunciation. It could also be used to create podcast jingles for radio shows or advertising an imaginary product using the 'ending' bars feature in the Options menu. The sky's the limit really!
The range of musical styles which come with the package are pretty varied although it is possible to purchase additional Styles Paks too if you prefer. You can also change the volume level of the mike by moving the red slider from left to right and change the level of each instrument by clicking the Mixer icon. Using the free CuePrompter could also help pupils make a good recording.
Once you are happy with your creative masterpiece, you can export it by clicking on the arrow next to Save and select one of the file formats on offer. Surprisingly, this does not include mp3 although there is no need to panic as you can simply choose WAV instead and then use Audacity to convert the file to mp3 afterwards using the Lame encoder.
It is also possible to export your audio to Windows Movie Maker which opens up further possibilities of lip-syncing, subtitling and animating your completed track in a task-based film project, the results of which could be published on a school blog.
So if you like to have a bit of musical accompaniment, the odd rap or some karaoke in your lessons, why not give Songsmith a go. I'm sure the pupils would sing your praises if you did!
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