Podcasts

Podcasts are a great way for both teachers and students to expand their knowledge on a specific topic through the use of the internet. Podcasts can be available to listen to even after they originally "air" making the content easily accessible. As a future ESL instructor I would use podcasts during my instruction. The podcast that I listened to on the English As A Second Language Podcast website is called Seeing A Circus Performance. This website is made specifically for ESL learners. This podcast can be used in my classroom for multiple purposes. This podcast uses clear and slow use of the English language that will allow my students to be able to follow along. This particular podcast includes a dialogue about going to the Circus. This can be used as a listening activity for students to participate in. This podcast can also be used along with a book about the Circus to reinforce concepts about what a circus is. This podcast can be done as a listening activity in the classroom with all the students at once, or individually with students so they can listen at their own pace and pause the podcast when they need to. Students can also work on the computer individually and have dictionaries available in case they are unfamiliar with words being used in the podcast, they can use the computer as a resource to look up those unfamiliar words. Podcasts are very beneficial because they allow students to learn new information from an English speaker outside of their teacher as well as incorporate technology and work on their listening comprehension.

e-Pals

It is very important to expose our students to people from different parts of the world to gain a better cultural understanding and a broader view of the world. One website that allows this connection to be possible is ePals.

This website aims to create a network of Global Citizens and Digital Citizens. This website serves grades pre-k-12. Schools from all over the world participate in this website. The website provides schools with e-mails, classroom matches to find partners to work with through the website, media galleris and forums for teachers students and their families. Teachers have the ability to monitor their students to ensure safety on the internet. Classrooms can participate in projects where they collobrate with partners from somewhere else in the world. This allows students to gain perspectives from other cultures while engaging in educational experiences as well as cultural diversity.

The website offers many motivating components for students to participate in activies such as Games, In2Books Clubhouse (only for US citizens), Smithsonia ePals and much more! Cricket is a component of the website that teachers can subscribe to for their classrooms. Cricket is a chidlren's magizine thats mission is to "inspire children to a lifelong love of reading and writing". Cricket contains a "variety of books, crafts, toys, and gifts" that make the learning process fun for children.   There are also rescourses for teachers such as a focus on the common core which is significant for all teachers in the United States.

This website provides an authentic way to incorporate educational topics with a fusion of cultural diversity. It is not possible for all students in our classroom to have the resources to meet those from another culture. It is our job as teachers to encourage this bridge to those around the world and provide them with the resources to do so. It is important to encourage our students to be not only citizens of the United States but global citizens.

Go Animate!

The website Go Animate allows users to create short comics with pre-made characters, scenes and objects. These scenes are highly customizable and you can even create what your characters to say and what they sound like. There is a free version of this website as well as a paid portion. This tool can be great for ESL classrooms!

This website can allow students to practice with language through the use of technology. Students can present a number of topics using Go Animate. Some ideas include: historical presentation, retelling of a story, telling a personal story, or many more. This website will allow students to work with language but also have fun. Using this in a classroom would be highly motivating for students because it will allow them to individualize their comics which can be both educational and fun. This website allows you to either type your speech or record your own voice which is a great function to differentiate instruction among students. Language learners can learn through both typing what they want to say and listening to the characters say it, or practicing speaking use their own voices. This tool can be used to check proficiency levels in speaking. I would use Go Animate in any content area to reinforce topics. This website is also very fun for both teachers and students!

Here is an example of a Go Animate video.

A Walk Outside by lrlichtenberger on GoAnimate
This scenario can be used in a classroom to check listening comprehension among students. Following this video teachers can give an assessment to check for understanding.

Animoto

Animoto is a great website to use for teaching. The purpose of this website is to publish visual stories. A free version of this website allows users to create a 30 second video accompanied by music and text with a link to the final product once it is 'published'. There are more features that become available once the user has a paid account but for educational classroom use it is most likely that the free version will be used.


Here is an example of an animoto that I created based on the book, The Hunger Games.


The Hunger Games

The use of this website in an ESL classroom would be useful for story telling. Students can use the website to retell a story they have already in class (to demonstrate comprehension) or to tell their own story (to get to know your students/get to know each other). The use of pictures, texts, and music makes the process individualized for each student. Students who are at a lower proficiency level can rely on the pictures to convey their meaning with minimal use of words. Students at more advanced levels can be expected to write a little more. This is a great way to differentiate instruction among students. Students can express themselves through using this tool because they get to select their own pictures and music which makes the task more motivating and exciting. This is also a great way to learn about your students on a personal level. The website is very easy to use so teachers should not worry about difficulty with using technology. Although a separate lesson may need to include how to upload a picture, or how to upload a song this can be a meaningful lesson for students that can be transferable to when they work with different websites who use similar functions. Remember, the most important thing in incorporating technology in the classroom is having a clear purpose so students understand what is expected of them!

Digital Storytelling

What is Digital Storytelling?

According to The University of Houston, digital storytelling is “the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories”. Digital storytelling focuses on a topic that typically has a point of view and it can vary in length. According to educause, “ Digital stories can be instructional, persuasive, historical, or reflective.”  Digital stories can be used to tell stories by combining various aspects of media to create a story. Digital stories can be comprised of images, texts, sounds, music, and video clips. Digital stories are basically a "mash up" of materials that all relate to a single topic in order to tell a story. According to educause, people who are not technologically savvy can successfully make a digital story because there are many simple applications that can be used for their creation. Digital stories work on learners digital literacy, global literacy, visual literacy, technology literacy, and information literacy.

Implications for Teaching

Digital storytelling can be utilized in an ESL classroom for individual or group presentations, because according to educause, anyone can make them. Digital stories can be used for creating original stories, giving information on a historical event, re-telling a narrative story, or exploring a topic of interest among the students. The use of digital story-telling will allow students to explore a topic and present it in order to demonstrate comprehension on the topic. The internet has an abundance of resources that can be used to compile a digital story. Using the internet as a resource can be beneficial for ESL students because they can use online dictionaries to help them translate words (as they work) if they become confused while on their journey to create a digital story. Digital storytelling is also a task that can differentiate instruction. While students work on their digital stories they can work independently and at their own pace. Digital storytelling also includes many aspects of media which allows different kinds of learners to pick which outlets of media they enjoy the most (text, music, video, etc). The University of Houston states, "This type of activity can generate interest, attention and motivation for the "digital generation" students in today’s classrooms." This motivation will make for a positive atmosphere and successful learning to occur in the classroom. This project idea helps students become an agent of information while utilizing the internet as a resource.

Making homework fun! How gaming can educate our students.

It is important that students stay engaged in content after school in order to ensure learning is meaningful and impacting our students. Most students do not enjoy doing homework, so why don't we go beyond boring worksheets and make homework "fun"? One way teachers can make learning English for ESL students "fun" is through gaming! The game Trace Effects is a great game for incorporating language and culture learning! This game provides a video at the beginning with photos and written instructions. This will help students with their reading and comprehension skills. Throughout the game the students will interact visually, through listening and reading. A feature of this game I really like is the dictionary that is included with the game so students can look up unfamiliar words. 

The language learning objective for this game would be for students to recognize features of an American campus. This learning objective can be assessed by putting objects from the game on a piece of paper and saying the names of vocabulary and having the students circle the appropriate picture to answer the question.

Another language learning objective would be for students to comprehend the conversations and instructions throughout the game. These learning objectives can be assessed by the completion of each Chapter (the Chapters or "levels" cannot be completed if the student is not comprehending the conversations and instructions they need to follow). 

I played this game up to Chapter 3 on two separate occasions and I really enjoyed it which I hope means my students will enjoy it too!

Here is a picture of what the dictionary feature looks like!

Using games in the classroom

According to the gamification wiki, gamification can be defined as "the use of game design techniques and game mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences." Games can be used in language learning because it can motivate students to learn. Games are fun and enjoyable to most students so it is a great way to "mask learning" so students may not necessarily feel like they are being "forced to learn". According to the blog post on Escape the room games, these types of games can be used for language learning through listening and reading. Escape the room games will include instructions that need to be heard and understood by the students in order to successfully complete the game. The teacher can provide a walkthrough on how to play the game which can be written, spoken, or visual which helps student utilize their listening, reading and/or comprehension skills.

A game that can be used for ESL learners is The Great Kitchen Escape. The first time I tried to play this game I tried to do it without a walkthrough leaving me very confused. Once I watched the walkthrough I played the game several times (3). It took me a few times to refer back to the walkthrough to understand what I had to do in order to beat the game. I think that when using this game in the classroom the walkthrough video on youtube is necessary for students to watch.

The language learning objective for students playing this game would be to be able to recognize kitchen vocabulary words. The students would be actively involved in the game because they would be watching the walkthrough in order to comprehend how to complete the game. They will be looking at vocabulary words in the walkthrough and having to mimmick the walkthrough in their own game. As the students grab kitchen items their name pops up in English. This will help the students learn kitchen item names throughout the game. The students will stay engaged in the game because it is very interactive. The teachers role in the game playing will be giving instructions to the students on how to watch the walkthrough video and monitoring the students as they watch the video and attempt the game. The teacher will provide additional support to any students who are struggling with comprehension by asking students if they understand as the game progresses. In order to measure if the objective was met the teacher can have the exact same items from the game cut out onto cards and can ask the students what each picture is. The teacher can go one step further and have the students copy the spelling of each item. This will help gauge understanding from the game. For a final assessment to ensure that the objective was met, the teacher can do an activity where students need to match the written word of the kitchen items with their pictures.