Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom:

As seen on Teachers TV

Better Learning with ICT is a new five episode series from Teachers TV which features innovative examples of classroom practice delivered by leading teachers from around the country. Broadcast during the channel’s ICT week in September, each episode shows an enthusiastic colleague visiting the ‘expert’s’ school, observing how he or she uses technology to enhance pupils’ learning and then tries to replicate the same techniques on return to their own institutions.

All the episodes can be seen from the Teachers TV website too along with some extra clips in the enhanced content which appears on the video timeline. Chris Thomas who stars in the episode on data handling has done a first class job in explaining in plain English such topics as how to get started with Wikis and embedding video clips into PowerPoint.

For me, the best of the bunch is the programme about Online Communities which shows how tools such as Twitter, Voki and VoiceThread can be used in the classroom to enthuse pupils and bring language learning to life. Lisa Stevens eruditely justifies her reasons for wanting to use such technology to help her pupils and I think she makes a great case.

I was lucky enough to appear in the first programme of the series Improving your Presentations which you can watch here thanks to the nice people at Teachers TV who kindly provided me with the necessary embed code.

Better Learning with ICT will be broadcast again on the television in the coming months, but in the meantime, if you can’t wait to check out the programmes for yourself, I suggest you head along to the Teachers TV website and get downloading!

Singalonga Songsmith!

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! 

Have a look at Anthony Evans' homemade how to guide to give you some more ideas on how to get started.

Thanks to Ollie Bray for the original heads up and for the MS Innovative Teachers Network for the lovely gift!

Learning Spanish with one stop animation

This summer, Sheffield South CLC has been running a number of popular three day courses for primary pupils to help them learn Spanish through the creative use of technology. Here are examples of the animations the children produced in July and August with the assistance of Catherine Moore who has also created a how to guide designed to show children how they can carry animating at home in their free time.

So, if you are feeling creative during the holidays, why not invest some time learning some of these techniques and start animating yourself. Here's a quote from the CLC blog to get you inspired:

A huge thank you to all involved. My daughter had a wonderful time and was engaged, motivated and enthused - some achievement at the end of a busy school year. A great example of the best sort of learning i.e. having so much fun, you don't realise you're learning ...

Creative use of ICT in Primary Spanish

Creative Use Of Ict In Spanish For Y5/6

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Last week, Catherine Moore from Sheffield South City Learning Centre gave a talk about promoting creativity in Primary Spanish using ICT at the Forward with Languages MFL conference in Sheffield. Her presentation co-authored by Paula Lewis from Meadowhead School and Primary link teacher highlights a number of useful tools for language learning, namely:

• Picnik
• Flickr
• Bubbl.us
• Glogster
• Comic Life
• Movie Maker
• Wikispaces

Have a look too at the slidecasts Lisa Stevens recently created for her CILT course Next steps in using ICT in the primary languages classroom on effective use of ICT for whole class teaching, collaborative learning using ICT, digital voice recording and assessment.

Teachers TV comes to Nodehill

 

Teachers TV are currently filming a new series designed to encourage colleagues to develop their use of technology in the classroom and improve their ICT skills. The five episodes to be broadcast in September will showcase good practice in the areas of social networking, video, PowerPoint, gaming, datahandling and mobile technology. They will all follow the same formula by featuring a keen volunteer wishing to update their knowledge by observing a leading practitioner and then transferring what they have learnt to their own context and seeing what difference it makes.

To find suitable candidates to play both roles, Gemma Gibbs from production company Illumina Digital used the TES staffroom forums to ask teachers to put their names forward if they were interested in taking part. This is what I did and was delighted to have had my offer accepted!

So on Tuesday, Gemma, her boss Morgan and volunteer Lise Bosher, a primary school teacher from Oxfordshire came to Nodehill along with a film crew to film me using PowerPoint for whole class teaching to introduce vocabulary and play games such as blockbusters and noughts and crosses using custom animations, triggers and drag and drop. The day went very well and the experience was highly memorable, if exhausting. The pupils loved being filmed and are now very excited about the prospect of appearing on TV in the autumn term.

As I will be soon leaving my current post, the programme to be called Presentations will be a kind of swansong, I guess as well a celebration of Nodehill and everyone that works at the school. Thank you to all those who made the filming possible last week and like you I look forward to seeing the final programme when it is unveiled after the summer holidays. One to watch for sure.

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!

Using Skype in the languages classroom

As part of her exciting project Around the World in 80 Schools, Silvia Tolisano has posted a short clip of her class videoconferencing in German and English with a class in Argentina. As you can see, she is using the new version of Skype which allows you to view video in full screen mode making it much better for classroom use.

As Silvia explains in her excellent interview for The World A.T. Ways recently, Silvia is a big fan of using Skype in this way to break down the walls of her classroom and to make international links with native speakers. She also adds how she uses a Flip video camera to capture the conversation and allow her class to replay the session as many times as they wish to reinforce what they have learnt.

This is a great example of how Skype can bring language learning to life. Thanks for sharing Silvia!

Have a look too at Seth Dicken's recent experience with using Skype in the second language classroom.

Esther Hardman on digital language labs, videoconferencing and primary blogging

 

Over the Easter break, I recorded a fascinating discussion with Esther Hardman, teacher of French and Spanish at The Weald of Kent Grammar School in Tonbridge about her creative use of videoconferencing and blogging to support primary colleagues in the west of Kent. As community outreach coordinator for MFL, Esther is responsible for facilitating language learning provision in local primary schools and to ensure that the learning objectives of The KS2 Framework for Languages are met as far as possible. In addition to visiting schools in person, she has found that virtual links have also been a valuable way of sharing information and motivating staff and pupils. 

In the interview, Esther explains how colleague Katie Clemmy as part of her ICT hands on support role at the school introduced her to Flashmeeting and suggested she use it within the MFL department. Seeing an opportunity for her post GCSE students to channel their creativity in a purposeful way, she decided to kill two birds with one stone and ask them to prepare lessons for a Yr5/6 class at St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School which they could then deliver in small groups via videoconferencing.

With the help of Richard Shaw and Kerry Schofield (primary languages coordinator) the classes took part in a couple of sessions and proved that with appropriate planning and sufficient practice, this type of activity can achieve impressive results and develop a whole range of transferable skills.

Esther's enthusiasm for using technology to enhance language learning is infectious and I would suggest that anyone who is interested in launching a similar project should heed her wise words carefully.

In the second part of our talk, Esther reveals her passion for blogging and its power for sharing ideas and networking with others. Borne from a personal desire to publish poetry and organise writing workshops, she soon realised the potential of blogging to offer distance learning resources and to be creative.

Crack the Code and The Wonderful World of Esther were set up as a result along with West Kent Primary Languages blog inspired by the work of Andrew Stapley and Huguette Hopkinson from Norton Knatchbull school and their blog NKS Primary Languages.

Her assistante virtuelle blogs are also online, although at the time of writing they are accessible by invite only as Esther and her colleagues are still experimenting on how best to use them.

For a full summary of Esther's wonderful work see below. I'm sure you'll find it inspiring. To quote Esther,

“It gets you out there from your school into the wider community more than you’d be able to do otherwise without it”

Download Interview_with_Esther_Hardman.mp3

Summary

• Introductions
• using a language laboratory and preparing a range of exercises to cater for all four skills which pupils can control and manage themselves
• letting pupils record themselves and listen back to improve their pronunciation and fluency
• creating gapfill exercises so pupils can analyse language
• saving recordings as mp3 files so auditory learners can listen on handheld devices at home and revise for their GCSE oral exams
• Activa Symposium v Audacity
• creating a bank of activities and dealing with time issues
• catering for different learning styles

Videoconferencing

• introducing videoconferencing into the department and and understanding the process
• trialling Flashmeeting and launching the project with post GCSE class and Year 5/6 class in a local primary school
• planning the project aims of encouraging the authenthic use of language on both sides and using the motivational aspect of ICT
• the secondary class creating activities such as simple question and answer warm ups, role-plays from differentiated word lists the primary class were studying and buzzword bingo
• the primary class listening out for items from their word lists and playing Buzzword Bingo
• organising three differentiated sessions and creating a timeline of events (practice VC between staff in both schools, meeting face to face to discuss aims, inhouse VC practice, whole class pupil to pupil practice to alleviate nerves and prepare for the three 'real' sessions)
• having the extra pressure of Maureen Smith (Primary languages Adviser for Kent County Council), Alison Gaunt, (Secondary Hands on Support Consultant at Advisory Services Kent) and Heather Pettitt, (SEGfL Project Officer) attending one of the sessions. 
• Huguette Hopkinson's and Andrew Stapley's experience of Flashmeeting
• having a back up plan: thinking about pace, repeating phrases and creating a second role-play
• seeing secondary pupils becoming more independent, managing themselves and working in teams
• thinking about camera position, seating and tieing in all pupils by letting them judge their classmates on their VC skills using a peer assessment form (reducing screen traffic, facial expression, vocal variety, enthusiasm, preparation, head position, vocal projection, screen position, managing spontaneity)
• having the opportunity to introduce transferable skills from public speaking
• assessing the fluency, amount of repetition, confidence, clarity and pace of delivery of the pupils
• using the school's VLE to allow secondary pupils to complete an online survey to reinforce again what they are learning and to provide valuable feedback for the teachers
• secondary pupils enjoyed delivering the language lessons and found it reinforced their prior learning
• videoconferencing v face to face
• how to set up a Flashmeeting and book sessions
• sending the URL to your partner school to make the session safe and secure
• recording sessions for reviewing learning
• dealing with internet safety issues
• applying for a UK TeachNet award in 2007 thanks to a recommendation from Carine Jacquel and the West Kent Learning Federation MFL e-learning group
• Flashmeeting v Polycom
• why aren't more MFL departments involved in videoconferencing
• aiming to videoconference with international schools

• getting started with videoconferencing by setting up an eTwinning project

Blogging

• Getting excited about blogging and publishing to a wide audience
• Using a blog as a way of sharing information and allowing feedback about Esther’s poetry and workshops
• Creating a personal blog playground like a visual CV and future time capsule
• Adding different web apps to your blog
• Developing Crack the Code blog as a one stop shop for weblinks and resources related to language learning
• Networking through blogging and comparing research as a form of personal CPD
• Using web 2.0 tools for practical immediate learning
• Incorporating blogging into primary outreach work with West Kent Primary Languages blog
• Using a blog to share information with lead teachers/primary partners and networking with like-minded colleagues from around the UK
• Trialling the assistante virtuelle blogs to support primary colleagues and reinforce the KS2 Framework for Languages from a distance
• Working with Hannah Kidd, primary languages coordinator from Capel Primary School and
• receiving positive feedback about how motivating her pupils were finding commenting on the assistante’s blog posts in small groups
• Distributing school pack for primary colleagues with specific reference to the framework objectives and example activities
• Warning that the blog and pack should supplement existing materials not replace them as the sole primary languages input
• Moving to the next step of the project by creating a departmental blog including advice on transition from KS2 to KS3
• Dealing with child protection issues
• Choosing a blogging platform
• Uploading PowerPoint files and embedding them on to blogs
• Using podcasts to fulfil the oracy objectives for the framework
• Catering to different learning styles with blogging and podcasting
• Blogger v TypePad
• Keeping the assistante virtuelle blogs private during the trial period to protect primary colleagues who may not be specialist language teachers and let them experiment
• Using live webcam links in the classroom to provide intercultural understanding
• providing listening activities by foreign language assistants making video clips for the blog
• recording speaking activities with an mp3 player or USB microphone 
• training colleagues following Kent Accreditation for Primary Languages (KAPL)
• future plans - developing podcasting/language laboratory, creating a clinque linguistique pupils can audio call or instant message using Skype once a week during an hour slot
• creating distance learning opportunities and dealing with workload
• exploring the use of microblogging tools such as Twitter and Edmodo in the classroom

Show notes

Symposium Language Laboratory

Revising for the GCSE speaking exam with Audacity

GCSE General Conversation MFL podcasts

Hot Potatoes

Flashmeeting

NKS Primary Languages blog

Tunbridge Wells Toastmasters Speakers Club

John Warwick

TeachNet UK award

Carine Jacquel

West Kent Learning Federation and West Kent Primary Languages blog

Stewart Dearsley from Mascalls School

Polycom

Flashmeeting project for primary languages

Videoconferencing Guide

Videoconferencing in the classroom

Primary French videoconferencing project highlights potential to share

Videoconferencing clips from CILT Primary languages

eTwinning

The Wonderful World of Esther

Playlist

Voki

Gina Hartman

Creating Your PLN Using Twitter

West Kent Primary Languages blog

Lisa Stevens (from Sutton Coldfield) 

Capel Primary Assistante Virtuelle blog

Crockham Hill Primary Assistante Virtuelle blog

Assistante Virtuelle blog

The KS2 Framework for Languages

Hannah Kidd from Capel Primary School

SlideShare

TypePad

Podomatic 

Creating a podcast with Blogger

WordPress

Edublogs

Paris Live webcam

Boulangerie webcam

International webcam links

TTS - Easi-Speak

Ruth Gray from Crockham Hill Primary School

Skype

Peter Saunders

Interview with Steve Collis

Building Schools for the Future (BSF)

Edmodo

José Picardo

Kath Holton

Edmodo: microblogging for the classroom

Edmodo: What students think

How microblogging sites such as Twitter can be used in education

Walled garden

MFL Show and Tell 07-08

Esther Hardman on Twitter

ICT for the non-specialist - Podcasting

ICT for the non-specialist is a new series from Teachers TV which features some great examples of schools around the country integrating technologies such as podcasting, blogs, wikis, mobile devices and virtual worlds across the curriculum.

The programme on podcasting showcases the wonderful work of West Point Primary School in Runcorn Cheshire and demonstrates the practicalities of preparing and recording a podcast in a primary school class as well as the benefits of doing so in literacy and French lessons.

In the clip, headteacher Noreen Curphey explains

"One of the concerns of the school was to develop speaking and listening skills and also to give the children a reason for writing. Podcasting has fulfilled both of those requirements. From 11% Level 5 at Keystage 2 two years ago, last year it was actually 50% of the children. I'm not saying it's all down to podcasting, but certainly podcasting has had a huge effect on that."

ICT co-ordinator Chris Bayne got the ball rolling when he showed staff how easy it was to record audio with a minidisk, edit it in Audacity and upload it on to a free podcasting portal like PodBean. His enthusiasm and drip-feed approach gave them the belief that they could do it for themselves and at a pace which suited.

In the footage we see Year 6 pupils confidently collaborating with each other and creating the 24th episode of their podcast on their recent residential visit to the Isle of Wight (lovely place, I'll have you know). One pupil illustrates perfectly the motivational nature of writing for a real audience when he says

"When you're writing out a full script, it's quite boring, like if you are like writing out a page of work, but when you are writing a script for a podcast, it's good because in the end you know that you'll get something worth writing it for."

Their teacher Pat Murphy says emphasises how podcasting can be adapted to all abilities and how it gives everyone the opportunity to express themselves as an example of pupil voice:

"It is a normal class in a normal school with differing abilities so some children require a bit more time to produce, but everybody has a voice on the podcast and everybody's voice is heard."

As well as producing audio podcasts, the school has started creating video podcasts too. Year 5 teacher Tom Paul has been recording short scripted clips using puppets and a digital video camera to motivate pupils and involve them in engaging group work. You can see what they've published so far by watching the clips at the top of this post or on the school's website or blog. As with the audio podcasts, the pupils protect their identity by using DJ names instead of their own.

As we see, once recorded, the footage is edited in Movie Maker and uploaded on to their PodBean site. Tom explains how important it is to carefully plan this type of creative activity to achieve positive outcomes:

"You have to ensure that the vocabulary is spot on before the children put anything on a podcast so working more closely with smaller groups is more beneficial so we do the input as a whole class and then we rotated small groups to take it in turns to produce something for a podcast ... It's bad enough for some children with confidence doing it in English, when you come to do it in a different tongue it can be really daunting, daunting for myself and daunting for the children, but with time and it does take time, they love it."

In 2008, the school won an award from UniServity for their work in podcasting and you can find out more background information on the project, by looking at these links from the Open Source Schools site and TeacherNet.

If you'd like have a go yourself, check out Paul Carney's useful guide for teachers on how to create an mp3 file using Audacity and watch these two YouTube clips on how to create an account with PodBean and upload some audio or video. The results could prove to be amazing.

Going live on BBC Radio 4 PM programme

 

Download Joedaleonradio4pm

On Wednesday much to my surprise I was asked to appear live on the PM Show on BBC Radio 4 to give my views on the article Pupils to study Twitter and blogs in primary schools shake-up which had come out that morning in The Guardian. Written by the former head of Ofsted, Sir Jim Rose, the leaked draft proposes fairly radical reforms of the new primary curriculum in England suggesting that pupils should for example be used to using such technologies as blogs, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter in their lessons.

Joined by former secondary school teacher of the year Phil Beadle, we only had five minutes to discuss the issues raised by presenter Carolyn Quinn meaning we had to be clear and concise in what we said. Phil whose ideas on technology have already raised a few eyebrows in the blogosphere took the view that although blogging could be motivating, podcasts were no more than audio files on a website (ignoring the power of RSS to distribute content on demand) and that Twitter had no place in a primary classroom as it would only help to further reduce pupils' attention spans.

As you will hear in the interview, I disagreed with much of what Phil said, arguing that as many primary pupils are already using social networking sites such as Bebo in their free time that we as teachers should channel this enthusiasm to create exciting educational opportunities in and out of the classroom.

If I had had longer, I would have clarified that I was not promoting that pupils set up their own Twitter or blog accounts or that they take part in online activities unsupervised. For these proposals to work, I feel the teacher needs to control the use of these tools by:

• creating a class blog to publish the pupils' work (text, audio, video, images etc) and to moderate comments so that no-one could publish anything inappropriate
• considering which topics across the curriculum would lend themselves well to audio or video podcasting and ensuring adequate time for rehearsing, recording and editing
• setting up a class Twitter account run by him or her to allow for a number of possible educational outcomes including live feedback from his or her personal learning network. Have a look at these posts by Steve Wheeler, Jennifer Blanchard and Laura Walker for more ideas on how and why Twitter could be incorporated into the classroom
• researching the microblogging tool Edmodo. See links from José Picardo and Mark Warner for further advice.
• letting his or her pupils use Wikipedia to find references for their classwork and remembering to acknowledge the source (of course). Have a listen to this E-learning Stuff podcast W.. W.. W.. W.. Wikipedia for an interesting discussion of using Wikipedia in education

The story was also run in Friday's TES and included the following quotes from the review:

"ICT is to be incorporated in all subjects and as Sir Jim promised in his interim report, is expected to be far more ambitious. Podcasting, webcams and video conferencing are all there, reflecting what is already going on in many primaries."

"Children will be expected to understand emails, messaging, wikis and twitters, alongside websites, film, newspapers, leaflets and adverts. They will be expected not only to read books, poetry and plays, but also graphic novels, modern poets and cultural tales. In writing, pupils will be expected to share ideas using ICT by combining written text with illustrations, videos and sound. By age 11 they should be able to create webpages."

As I said on the PM programme, this is welcome news although it has huge training implications as highlighted by Doug Dickinson in his post When is a leak not a leak?. Other reflections on the original Guardian article in the blogosphere include reflections by Lisa Stevens and TeachNet Learning. Many others voiced their opinions about the proposals on Twitter and sent words of encouragement as I whistled across to BBC Southampton via various taxis and the ferry.

Thanks to johnmayo, markpentleton, actualleigh, mrmackensie, parslad, dawnhallybone, tricias, iusher, MattandCat, m_as, SchoolDuggery, kaymcmeekin, NeilAdam, damonlord, GaryH2UK, mwclarkson, AntHeald, GrahamAttwell, PlaceFarm, VentnorBlog, blagona, digitalmaverick, ssutherland, dwsm, tonycassidy, GeoBlogs, twowhizzy, Illendil, kenroyal, nickg33, ostringer, krysiaS, Big_Jen, air73 for your support.

A big thanks also to Chris Vallance who recommended me in the first place to appear on the radio

and to Gareth Davies and VentnorBlog for blogging about it subsequently. See James P's lovely comment below:

You can listen to Wednesday's PM programme on BBC iPlayer for a few more days or just click on the link above for the five minute discussion for which I have been given permission by the BBC to publish here.

Wednesday was an unforgettable day and hopefully not the last of its kind ;)