These are great downloads that you can put up in your classroom. They include key phrases for students to use and they are all illustrated so that no translation is necessary.
Download the Spanish version HERE.
Download the French version HERE.
Download the Italian version HERE.
Download the Chinese version HERE.
This is a great new site that is extremely easy to navigate and is very user-friendly. The teacher can easily record his/her voice for students to hear, then the student simply clicks and records his/her own response to the question. The student can then listen to what he/she said and easily delete and redo. The teacher can add in text, YouTube Videos, and images as well. The great thing about this site is that it is completely online and does not require downloading any software onto your computer or the student’s computer. The students submit their spoken (or typed) response to the site and the teacher accesses the student work through his/her Lingt account. Student do not have to sign up for an account, just the teacher (and it is FREE). Students simply title their work with their name and the teacher accesses it that way.
I recently met the two MIT students who created this site and they are eager to get teachers using it so that they can make it as user-friendly and efficient as possible. They are also committed to keeping this fundamental part of the site FREE. You have to visit and try it out for yourself. Wow!
Here is a rubric that I use to assess student performance using Lingt.
Try it out HERE.
Posted in Speaking, Technology
Tagged Listening Comprehension, Online, Reading, Speaking, Technology, Web
This is a website from Australia that is completely interactive. There are listening activities, writing activity, and opportunities to read and respond. Students have lots of fun with this one.
Check it out HERE.
This is a great site out of England that has pages and pages of online activities for students. It is very well organized and you can find almost any topic that you want. It is comepletly free.
Check it out HERE.
Here is some great info about podacsting from Langwitches:
| How about creating your own podcast for you Foreign Language or ESL classroom? This can be done in different ways:
The first podcast I tried out was for my 5th graders. We had studied all South American Spanish speaking countries and they were getting ready to take their comprehensive test at the end of the year. I already had set up a study guide on our classroom website and wanted to take advantage of the popularity of MP3 players among my students, so I creaded episodes for each Spanish speaking countries for them to download and listen to. 6th graders are studying Central American and Carribean countries.I decided to involve my 6th graders more into the creation process of the podcast by making them responsable for writing and recording a script for a country (which I assigned to them). They were divided into groups of two or three students and given the homework of writing and practicing the script. The criteria that I gave them was, that their script needed to inlcude the following:
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| In the following week we recorded them in class with Audacity. | |
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I have found it extremely useful to use pictures to represent words and to add on to these picture sentences as the year moves on. I tend to use an LCD projector to show these pictures, but have used printed pictures and overhead transparencies in the past and the process works just as well.
I begin the year with a simple picture of heart and another of a heart with an X on it. These represent “I like” and “I don’t like.” About 10-15 verbs are introduced (again through pictures) and students then “read” their first sentence, something such as “I like to run.” I purposely use only “I like/don’t like” at this stage so that students don’t have to be concerned with verb forms. As we begin to study more vocabulary I add on to these pictures.
For example, they learned the rooms in the house. As soon as they were comfortable recognizing the pictures of the rooms I added the previous words to them to make more complex sentences, such as “ I don’t like to sleep in the living room.”
As we added on food vocabulary I again using words/pictures that they already knew to make more complex sentences, such as “I like to eat strawberries in the living room.”
It is very important to use the same pictures rather than changing them so that the students become comfortable recognizing them. I was very surprised and impressed this past year when some of my youngest students (3rd grade) began creating their own sentences based on the pictures and they began trying to create the longest sentence.
This process has helped students to retain the majority of vocabulary that they have learned throughout the year and they enjoy what they are able to accomplish. You can go in many directions with these pictures once students are comfortable with them. They can “read” the sentences out loud, write the sentences in the target language based on the picture sequence, or “write” what they are reading. This entails giving sentences to students that are in the target language along with a group of pictures that they assemble in the correct order.
Here is a Powerpoint that demonstrates this concept: Image Sentences
Remember all games we liked to play while growing up (and still like to play now)? There was Scrabble®, Yahtzee®, Sorry®, Monopoly®, Twister®, Ker Plunk®, and many others. I am finding that even with the invention and arrival of all of the new computer and video games on the market, kids are always content to play the classics once in while. I think that they are intrigued that you can move game pieces or read a card without having to plug anything in. This has inspired me to use these classic games in my classroom with my middle school students, with some modifications of course. The addition of a language-learning component can easily turn these “games” into an enrichment activity. Sometimes I use the game pieces or the game-board and make up my own rules. You can be very creative with these “raw” materials. I simply try to find a way of using a game that I have enjoyed (and have access to) that can have a language objective.
I was recently introduced to the new game LCR® (Left Center Right). The game is simple and requires very few materials. There are three dice, each marked with an “L” for “Left”, a “C” for “Center,” and an “R” for “Right.” The other sides have a dot.
Each player (there should be at least 4) gets three tokens or chips. Player one begins by rolling the dice. If he gets an “L” he must pass a chip to the person to his left. If he gets an “R” he must pass a chip to the person to his right, and if he gets a “C” he must put a chip in the center of the table. If he rolls a dot he keeps the chip. The game continues clockwise until one person is left with a chip(s) and he is the winner. The game is fast-paced and the players constantly say, “two to the left” or “one to the right.”
This is a great game for world language classes, helping students to learn and practice the words for left and right (and sometimes finally be able to distinguish their left from their right.) I found some blank wooden blocks at a local craft store. They were very inexpensive, about $4 for a bag of 50. I took a black marker and wrote the letters “G,” “C,” and “D” on the blocks and put dots on the other sides. I now have the French version of the game (Gauche, Centre, Droite). I did the same for my Spanish classes, marking the cubes with “I,” “C,” and “D” (Izquierda, Centro, Derecha). The students play in a group of five and I give them bingo chips.
This is just one example of using a common game in the classroom. There is probably a way to use just about any game since communication is typically required.
When creating a speaking activity, the objective should be based on a a proficiency target or, more concretely, on what the students are trying to accomplish or communicate with the language. The ACTFL Can Do Statements are a valuable resource for crafting speaking prompts based on proficiency levels and goals, rather than grammar points and vocabulary themes.
In addition to working towards speaking proficiency, it’s important to teach students that there are different ways to communicate and that their speaking should reflect this goal as well. In everyday speaking, we communicate for different purposes and all these different ways of speaking should be explicitly explained to students so that they are aware of the manner of speaking in which they should engage. The following concepts (based on the work of Brown and Yule, 1983 and Jones and Burnes, 1998) will help in this area.
The fist type of speaking involves interaction or conversation of some sort. In developing these types of speaking activities, the teacher should make sure that students are aware of the identity of the speakers (adult, child, family, unknown, etc), as this will lead to a decision about formal or informal language use.
In contrast to an interactive conversation, where the goal is to respond and interact in some manner, transaction involves giving and receiving information that is only possessed by or needed by the other person. AN example of this conversation may be asking about food in a restaurant. The person working on the restaurant is not creating information to share, but rather knows the answers (i.e. the menu and prices) and he/she is providing this information when asked.
One additional type of speaking involves performance or some sort of “public talk.” This will tend to more of a monologue rather than a dialogue. These activities may include giving a class report, or a speech of some kind. This will involve choosing a speaking format, language register, and appropriate vocabulary.
Teachers are teaching more toward proficiency, but we need to remember that language is social by nature and these social interactions lead to particular language choices. For this reason, it’s important to create speaking opportunities for students in which they have a chance to practice their language skills in a social context. This also allows for opportunities to engage students in discussions of culture.
References:
Brown, Gillian and George Yule 1983. Teaching the Spoken Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Burns, Anne 1998. Teaching Speaking. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 18, 102-123.
Jones, Pauline 1996. Planning an Oral Language Program. In Pauline Jones (ed.) Talking to Learn. Melbourne: PETA 1996 12-26
Another post highlights the need to explicitly explain to students what is expected of them when engaging in a speaking activity. Since these speaking formats require different skills, it is important to assess them differently as well.
For example, though some sort of spontaneous speaking assignment (i.e. “Ask a classmate about…”) may seem like a novice task, it is actually the most difficult because students have to decide what type of language to use (formal, informal, idiomatic expressions, questions words, etc.). Since this is the case, it is important to give as much direction as possible and the teacher should include directions such as scenarios and topics. Then, the teacher assesses the students on the use of these requirements, rather than simply, and perhaps arbitrarily, grading them on how much they can say.
Regarding transaction (see article on Crafting Speaking Activities) activities, and keeping in mind that the linguistic accuracy is not as important, grading simply on whether or not the task is completed usually works well. A performance activity generally requires some form of writing before the student speaks publicly and the assessment should account for the written piece as well.
The more explicit the expectations and the grading elements, the more likely students are to engage in the process of communicating competently.
Posted in Classroom Procedures, Speaking
Tagged Assessment, Evaluation, Speaking, Testing
Task-based activities are activities that require the use of the target language in order to complete a task. The goal is the completion of the task, though the expectation is that the target language is being used to complete it. We often create activities for our students that focus more on practicing language than on using the language. Language practice can be beneficial, but we need also provide students with opportunities to do something with the language.
Linguist and second language acquisition specialist, Bill Van Patten, describes “exercises” as activities that focus on language mechanics and often use language out of context. “Tasks,” in contrast, are activities that have a product, goal, objective or outcome that require using the target language to achieve it, but are not focused on mechanics. With tasks the goal is independent of language. Research overwhelmingly shows that language used in context is most beneficial to language acquisition. Tasks are an effective way of providing communicative activities to students.
Here are some examples of Task-Based Activities in the Foreign/World Language Classroom:
The teacher begins by cutting the strips of paper on the dotted line and giving five students a slip with two pictures on it. These students go to the front of the class without revealing their pictures to the rest of the class.The other students in the class each receive the first sheet and begin by writing down the names of the five students in the front of the room. One at a time members of the class take turns trying to guess who has which picture on their sheet. All students record the answers as they are given. An order of students should be established by the teacher and this order will be repeated until a student has correctly identified all the people/pictures on his/her turn. If the answers are not correct the questions continue. Students should be informed that each person has only two pictures and that no two people have the same picture.
All players start at “Début” or “Comeinzo.” Taking turns, each player rolls the die and moves the number of spaces rolled. The object is to land on the numbered boxes in the correct order (1-12). They can move in any direction, but they can’t use the same box twice in a turn. They can share a box with another player. The winner is the first player to land on square #12. The game can be made longer by having players return to “Début” or “Comienzo”and work toward #12 a second time.
Begin by distributing 6 cards to each player. The rest of the pile remains face down in the middle. Player 1 starts the game by asking any player if he has a card (picture or verb form) that he needs to complete a family (Half Dozen). The player may only ask for cards for a name that he has in his hands. If the player asked has the card, he will give it to player 1. Player 1 will ask again. If the player asked does not have the card, he will say “Pioche” or “Recoge” and player 1 will take a card from the pile, and play will continue with the next player.When a player collects all 6 pictures or all 6 forms of a verb, he announces it to the group and puts the cards down for everyone to see. When there are no more cards in the pile, the game continues without players picking up new cards. The player with the most names completed at the end of the game wins.
Posted in Activities and Games, Classroom Procedures, Speaking
