What the FIRST thing that comes to your mind when I say...

"WORDS"?


Why not answer by typing that response, spelling it correctly, and taking note of how many different terms you can com up with?


WORD ASSOCIATION does that!  


What a great warm-up for an ESL class!

WELCOME to DENVER, and my BOF "nest"

Hello! I'm SARAH Steadman

and I have a confession to make...

I have ALTITUDE SICKNESS!

Here's what I looked like yesterday:

But, TODAY---the DIZZIES are gone

and I'm excited to meet with you!

Thank you for being part of this
“Birds of a Feather" discussion today.

Please bookmark the session blog and visit/comment/contribute at any time NOW or LATER.

The ideas posted are meant to inform/inspire, as I am inspired by the positive impact technology has in my ESL language classroom at George Mason University.



I would really love to maintain a network forward from today, so reach out to one another,
and to me anytime:

Sarah Steadman
ssteadma@gmu.edu

Let's get started!

ISTE Birds of a Feather Session, Discussion Questions

So, now that you know who I am and why I am here, I'd like to know more about you!

1. Who are we:

• Administrators?
• Technology Coordinators?
• Educators? ESL, Foreign Language?
• What level: elementary, middle, high, adult ed, university?
• Linguists?
• Other?

2. What current challenges do we/you face in language instruction?

3.  What changes would you like to see in the language classroom and how does instructional technology play a role in those changes? 
Does it DRIVE the change, ASSIST the change, INSPIRE the change?

4.  How do your students respond to technology assisted language instruction?

Let’s break into groups and access some TECH TOOL posts on this blog.

• Each group will review a different blog post and discuss thoughts on the usefulness and attraction of the demonstrated tech tool.
• Each group should have a reporter who will summarize your group’s ideas and share with us later.
• In addition, I encourage you to "Comment" live on this blog as well, so that your group’s commentary can be accessed again later online...once our Altitude Sickness wears off ;)

ISTE Birds of a Feather Session, Bloom's DIGITAL Taxonomy

Now, let’s regroup and further network with others in the room. Together, let’s take a look at the widely distributed article Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally,  by Andrew Churches.

• Track how the innovations you’ve just reviewed stand up to this taxonomy.
• Discuss how language instruction fits in with this revised Bloom’s chart.

Again, please nominate a reporter to speak for the group, and please post your thoughts in "Comments" on this post for later review and further discussion here online.

• Based on technology tools (free or otherwise) which you feel an inspiration to try…and using terminology from the digital taxonomy, create a language lesson you could use today.
• The lesson should have language goals (of course), but be assisted by technology to enhance the understanding, access, practice of, and application of the language. Innovate the tasks you normally do without a tech tool, but not for the sake of technology alone…keep it real by addressing the Bloom’s flow chart.

Even if you are not an educator, this exercise is very valuable—the end goal is student success, so in order to get there we have to understand the layers needed to innovative teaching. Layers like funding for technology accessories (headsets/micros/software), and for classrooms outfitted with student computers/or laptop carts; tech coordinators knowing what their teachers need or may be trying to do in their classrooms, or even to suggest ideas to your language teachers and be part of the innovations for today's language classrooms.

• Post your lesson idea in the comments section!

A Watermelon Eating Contest, in 3 Acts.

It all started with a watermelon eating contest.  No really, it did.  Indulge me...I promise this leads to another tech tool idea:

ACT I:  An invitation to participate in one of America's finest summer events--A Watermelon Eating Contest!
Scene:  Summer 2006--HOT, oppressive JULY 95 degree+ heat in Northern VA.
Actors:  100 tired and hot ESL students


While the students went teeth first into pink wedges bigger than their heads, I took about 1000 digital pictures to document their bold entry into the cultural phenomenon.  First it was just 6 students, then it was 10--finally 15 students soaked themselves in pink pulp and buried their feet in green rinds...and I got it all on record.

What would I DO with these pictures?  The students HAD to have them for their MySpace pages (well, it was still cool in 2006).   I used a free download of MS Photo Story and made a DVD, layered with an OutKast "He Ya" soundtrack.  After handing them out a few weeks later, the students MOBBED me to find out how I'd done it.  They wanted to make their own Photo Stories, which take still photos and turn out something which feels like a movie.  Even more, it allows for music, photo-editing, captions, and personal voice recordings!

Hmm...when the students come to you, you MUST take advantage of their eagerness!

ACT II:  The Set-Up
As an educator, I have a curriculum to follow.
As an ESL teacher, I have language based learning objectives.
As a classroom manager, I learn about my students and value their talents and personalities.
As a human, I am creative (and want students to feel creative).

Weaving it all together can be a challenge, but I (silver platter from the students, really) found a way with another fun tech tool...PHOTO STORIES!

Scene:  Technology Elective ESL class
Actors:  16 Intermediate to Low Advanced ESL students

1. The students were tasked with choosing an emotion (i.e. Hate, Love, Sadness, Jealousy, Admiration, Anxiety, Joy, Calm).
2. Then, in class we conducted a Google Image search and grabbed photos to represent the chosen emotion.  These were then saved into a folder on student flash-drives.  I required 20 photos.
3. At home, students then searched Quote databases for 20 corresponding quotes/proverbs/expressions to be layered on the photos in the Photo Stories.  This ended up being a very challenging, but excellent task for reading, vocabulary, and implied main idea practice.  The students commented later that this was their favorite part of the set-up process because they read far more quotes than they needed, and felt a real sense of accomplishment for having deciphered so much English!
4. Finally, they downloaded MS Photo Story for  FREE.  We used desktops in class, but if you don't have such a classroom you could use a lab or conduct a BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) day and students can share.

ACT III:  Creativity UNLEASHED!  Teacher overwhelmed by students' passion for the product, while slyly noting the massive uprising of English application in the process!


Once students participate in a teacher-led demo (Step-by-EASY-Sep) of the simple to use, Point-and-Click software, and how to SAVE the work in progress...THEY JUMP RIGHT IN!

Bing, Bang, BOOM!  The students are talking, asking questions, helping one another, laughing, pointing, clicking, editing, recording their voices (I required that they record themselves reading the quote for each frame), listening to one another's recordings, advising, and CREATING!

Let's check that list again:

As an educator, I have a curriculum to follow.  CHECK!

As an ESL teacher, I have language based learning objectives.  CHECK!

As a classroom manager, I learn about my students and value their talents and personalities.  CHECK!

As a human, I am creative (and want students to feel creative).  CHECK!

Conclusion:
Here is a real example from this class, with permission from the student to share with you!
Note the language skills tasked here, and how the tech tool assists her in practicing and applying her improvements in English.  I think she deserves a STANDING OVATION!

A pronunciation lesson from Eliza Doolittle

I wonder if my students, in the midst pronunciation practice, daydream and silently break out in song...wishing for my great demise and capture.  You never know...but Doolittle's onto something here:

Watch first...really, the 4.5 minutes will be good for you, and your students:



Speaking practice in language classrooms, or "Drilling" as Mr. Higgins calls it, is deserving of daydreaming, cerebrally singing students.

DRILL no more, Mr. Higgins!  Tech tools like podcasting, Memoov, and lyric dubbing are fun and engaging for the same type of practice...

QUESTION:  but how does a student know or begin to hear themselves and improve their accuracy?

ANSWER:  The Speech Accent Archive, a George Mason University Linguistics project aiming to "uniformly [present] a large set of speech samples from a variety of language backgrounds"--and may I just say, what a fine collection it is!

*Note the inappropriate insertion of beaming pride for my university, linguistics dept, and yes...even the project, which I was a part of in grad school, a hundred years or so ago.  Sorry.  Well, not really*

Back to our Drill:

Begin by explaining the purpose of this little drill, and that tech tools will help keep it real and make it all happen.  Then, have students create recordings of the Speech Accent Archive "Elicitation Paragraph"

• Please call Stella.  Ask her to bring these things with her from the store:  Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob.  We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids.  She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.
• The elicitation paragraph contains most of the consonants, vowels, and clusters of standard American English.
• This can be done with a podcast very easily,  and outside of class (taking away the age-old "this is embarrassing" barrier)...podcasts can even be phoned in using TalkShoe 

Once these recordings have been posted online, several things need to be done:

1.  The student becomes their own listener, and listens several times...noting any inaccuracies they can catch on their own.
2.  Other students (preferably from a different language) do the same thing...listen to OTHERS, note inaccuracies...but also note where their own pronunciation differs from this other speaker.  This is important prep...it TUNES their ears!
3.  Then, IN CLASS, with steps 1 & 2 completed...students analyze their own accent and predictable pronunciation generalizations using The Speech Accent Archive:

• Students locate a speaker of the same language by browsing
• Then, you have to show them what to look for (identifying the red and blue markings for predictable speech errors).  These are not linguistic students, so knowing what a fricative is can NOT be your goal here...instruct them to ignore the terminology and just follow where the red/blue marks are and listen at that spot each time they listen to their own podcasts.
• Once students have tuned themselves to the sounds speakers from their language commonly mispronounce, omit or reduce, have them listen to YOU reading it aloud several times (or even on your own podcast for them to hear again later).  Now they are hearing accurate sounds, and they are noting the changes they would need to make.

4.  Finally, wrap up this drill with another take home recording; students should make a new podcast of the same "Elicitation Paragraph"

• Please call Stella.  Ask her to bring these things with her from the store:  Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob.  We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids.  She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.
• Do not replace the original recording with this one...they should keep that to compare with later.

5.  Now YOU go in, listen to the 2 recordings, and provide individual feedback on their improvement!

Now, let's all thank Hepburn for that Cockney accent and this TECH inspired innovation, and well...for being so darned cute.

Comic Life download--WRITING practice!

When I went to China (and I do not speak Chinese),  I couldn't read the newspaper--but I COULD READ THE COMICS!  These "funnies" are universal--follow the pictures and guess the context, giggle, repeat.  I'm sure I missed out on some of the knee-slapping humor, but it felt like success!

In a class for non-native English speakers, I used this free download to work out verb tense errors.  I (actually, my 9-year old) took a series of pictures while at the grocery store--one action after the next, leading to the horrible mistake of getting to the register and discovering I'd forgotten my wallet!  We've all been there, right?  It's funny, LATER!  This took me about 10 minutes with my digital camera while I actually did my grocery shopping.

I uploaded the pics into Comic Life, then it generated a comic strip look FOR ME.  Very realistic too.

I posted this file to my class wiki and tasked them (in class and out) with adding the speech bubbles...and they had to make it funny!  Paying attention to verb tense and time markers was the language focus.  Well...hilarity insued and these students gabbed and gabbed in the past tense for 2 class sessions while they wrote out the speech bubbles & clarified irregular verb tenses, spelling, pronunciation, and punctuation!  What a great TECH-ED tool.

This can be used in so many ways.  I have a colleague who teaches ESL to grades K-6 in public school.  Through the content of Shakespeare, she had these non-native kids creating Mid Summer Night's Dream Comics!  They took their own pictures, created the comic strips themselves, and added the speech bubbles!  Notice in the following example how the students had to take pictures which represented the meaning of the text.
If they can do it, so can you...

Like she says "where there's a 'Wil', there's a way!"  
*Insert knee-slapping Shakespeare humor here*
If you want to know more about what she's doing in ESL at the elementary level, contact her!  She's AMAZING, inspirational, and very easy-going:  Holly Rodgers HMRodgers@fcps.edu