Modifying ACTFL’s 90% Guideline

“ACTFL therefore recommends that language educators and their students use the target language as exclusively as possible (90% plus) at all levels of instruction during instructional time. “ http://www.actfl.org/news/position-statements/use-the-target-language-the-classroom-0

ACTFL has a 90% guideline to indicate how much teachers should speak in the modern language in the classroom. However, I think that ACTFL should concentrate less on the teachers and more on the students. Basically, the question for a language classroom is “Who needs more language practice the teacher or the students?” if the students need more practice, then they should be the ones talking the most in the class, not the teacher.

I think that ACTFL should implement these student guidelines:

– Students’ modern language talking should be 70% of the total talk in each class.

– During each class students should talk at least once with at least five consecutive sentences.

– In each class, students should have at least one interactive  spontaneous speaking conversation with another student of three minutes.

– Each student should say at least 30 sentences in the modern language each class.

I do not believe that students simply saying grammar drills or doing vocabulary drills, no matter how fancy these drills are, constitutes real language use. I would not count those sentences as speaking the language. I would like students to move from practicing the language to using the language even at the beginning levels. I would them to communicate.

From now on, I will only post my modern language/ foreign language/ world language posts to my Improving Modern Language Learning  at modernlanguagest.wordpress.com   Within the next few weeks, I will move all old languages posts to there.

I have developed many  Spanish activities that allow students to begin to express themselves and to begin to move toward spontaneous speaking as in a natural conversation.  My Spanish spontaneous speaking activities (21+) includes Modified Speed Dating (Students ask  a question from a card-whole class), Structured Speaking (Students substitute in or select words to communicate in pairs),  Role Playing (Students talk as people in pictures or drawing from 2-4 people) and Speaking Mats (Can talk using a wide variety of nouns, verbs and adjectives to express their ideas- pairs or small group),  Spontaneous Speaking (based on visuals or topics in pairs),  and Grammar speaking games (pairs or small group). Available for a nominal fee at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

My three formative assessment books:   http://is.gd/tbook

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Common Core and Modern Languages- Do not panic

No, there are no common core standards for Modern Languages.    Yes, Modern Language teachers are looking at  the English Language Arts Common Core.      No, those teachers should not panic.

I  have been in education for over 40 years.  I have seen many many movements and new  approaches.  I have been in education long enough to see the same movement resurface with a new name.  With each new building principal came a new way of doing things, with each new superintendent came the newest approach, and with each new leader of  state education or professional organization came a new vision.  Usually the new approach, especially the common core in Modern Language,  does not require multiple days of professional development even a half day; most times modern language teachers can make the change within about an hour.

I have used a simple technique to change to any new  approach.    I analyze the new approach thoroughly and then determine
1. What am I presently doing that directly fits in that approach?
2. What am I doing that I can modify slightly to fit the approach?  Sometimes it is as simple as a name change or where something goes in a lesson. For example, what  is the new name for an anticipatory set?  I believe that Common Core English just uses different labels than we do in Modern Languages when we use the labels from ACTFL or state guidelines.
3. What do I have to change completely or add to what I already do?

I am waiting for someone to develop the magic cheat sheet that converts  the English Language Arts Common Core to Modern Language learning.  We already do  them, we just have to give our activities a new name or number.

I have attended two workshops on Common Core and Modern Languages  and neither kept it simple. In fact, I walked out more confused than when I went in.  A Modern Language department could do a  CC to ML conversion chart  in about a fifty minute meeting.

If you know of anyone who has developed the magic conversion chart, please let me know so I can share it with other Modern Language teachers.

I have developed many  Spanish activities that allow students to begin to express themselves and to begin to move toward spontaneous speaking as in a natural conversation.  My Spanish spontaneous speaking activities (20+) includes Modified Speed Dating (Students ask  a question from a card-whole class), Structured Speaking (Students substitute in or select words to communicate in pairs),  Role Playing (Students talk as people in pictures or drawing from 2-4 people) and Speaking Mats (Can talk using a wide variety of nouns, verbs and adjectives to express their ideas- pairs or small group),  Spontaneous Speaking (based on visuals or topics in pairs),  and Grammar speaking games (pairs or small group). Available for a nominal fee at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

My three formative assessment books:   http://is.gd/tbook

Analyzing a Modern Language Textbook for Authentic Communication

Recently I analyzed a textbook for its communication value. Of the 25 activities in one chapter, there were 17 textbook only activities.  A textbook activity deals what is in the textbook such as questions about a picture.   For example, the book showed a tv schedule and asked students about the schedule.  There were  8 activities that encouraged students to talk about their lives .  Each of the 8 activities followed a strict formula in which students substituted in their answer for the given one.   What did your father eat yesterday? He  ate …….  What did  your mother eat?…  Only one activity was longer than 5 lines. The students do answer  questions but they do not react. None of the activities lead to a  free flowing conversation  in which students honestly reacted to each other. None of the personal activities lead to  a  full conversation.

Some questions to ask about your textbook:

1 How many of the exercises are personal ones in which students tell about their lives?

2 Can students tell many things about themselves or does this exercise really focus on practicing a  specific grammar /vocabulary point?  For example, I get up at six. I eat at 7, I lunch at 12.  People really  do not talk that way unless they are recounting their day and then they would add in more details.

3 How long of a conversation does the book encourage?  Do the students say a 8+ line conversation?

4 What part of the conversation is spontaneous and free flowing as opposed to strictly following the formula/questions?

5 Do the students’ statements and questions follow the logical fashion they would in a real conversation ? Or does it twist, in an unnatural way, to present a grammar point/ vocabulary term?

6  Would a target language speaker actually say this conversation?

Let’s help students to communicate not “grammarate”.

I have developed many  Spanish activities that allow students to begin to express themselves and to begin to move toward spontaneous speaking as in a natural conversation.

My Spanish spontaneous speaking activities (20+) includes Modified Speed Dating (Students ask  a question from a card-whole class), Structured Speaking (Students substitute in or select words to communicate in pairs),  Role Playing (Students talk as people in pictures or drawing from 2-4 people) and Speaking Mats (Can talk using a wide variety of nouns, verbs and adjectives to express their ideas- pairs or small group),  Spontaneous Speaking (based on visuals or topics in pairs),  and Grammar speaking games (pairs or small group). Available for a nominal fee at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

My three formative assessment books:   http://is.gd/tbook

Are Modern Language Students’ Real Questions Found in their Textbook?

I recently asked my  Spanish college students to make a list of questions that they w0uld want to ask of a person whom they are meeting for the first time. I was amazed at how uniform their answers were:

What is your name?
What is your phone number?
How old are you?
When is your birthday?
Where are you from?
What are you like? / Are you (athletic, …..)?
Where do you live? /How long have you lived here?
How are you?
What school/college do you go to? What is your major?
Where do you work? /What do you do?
What do you like to do?
How many brothers/sisters do you have?
What is your favorite (music, team, color, hobby, TV show)? / Do you like ( a particular music group, sport, TV show)?

My guess is that if we look at most modern language textbooks, we will not find these questions in the first few chapters.  We may not find these critical question grouped together.   For example, one textbook might not teach “to live” until the 4th chapter and the course only covers the first  5th chapters of the textbook.

I think that we can learn a great deal about what is important to our  modern language students by asking them what they would want to say about a common  topic found in the textbook.  Does the language textbook reflects things that are of importance to students?  Or does the textbook focus on its own  grammar and vocabulary without focusing on what students, their intended audience,  would normally want to say about a topic?  A communicative book focuses on  what real people would ask/answer about a topic in a normal conversation. A grammar focused textbooks presents a very limited amount of  questions but concentrates more on a specific grammar point that has been worked into the questions/conversation.

I have put together numerous speaking mats that present students with a wide range of vocabulary for a given topic so that they can say and ask things that are important to them.  Some speaking mats:
Spanish Activities / Sports Spontaneous Speaking Mat – Small Group
Spanish Clothing Spontaneous Speaking Mat – Partner Talk
Spanish Casa /House Spontaneous Speaking Mat – Partner Talk
I have many other activities where I supply the students with a wide range of possible answers such as
Spanish Friend /Family Member Detailed Description – Partner Talk

My Spanish spontaneous speaking activities (20+) includes Modified Speed Dating (Students ask  a question from a card-whole class), Structured Speaking (Students substitute in or select words to communicate in pairs),  Role Playing (Students talk as people in pictures or drawing from 2-4 people) and Speaking Mats (Can talk using a wide variety of nouns, verbs and adjectives to express their ideas- pairs or small group),  Spontaneous Speaking (based on visuals or topics in pairs),  and Grammar speaking games (pairs or small group). Available for a nominal fee at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

My three formative assessment books:   http://is.gd/tbook

Students Paired Oral Testing Better Than With Examiner Modern Language

Based on Brooks, L. (2009). “Interacting in pairs in a test of oral proficiency; co-constructing a better performance”. Language Testing 26(3): 341-366.

Brooks’  research shows that students who are tested in pairs outperform students who are tested one-on-one with the examiner.  In addition, the students’ interactions were more complex and revealed that students co-constructed a more linguistically demanding performance. In addition, when students worked in pairs, they more closely resembled the oral interactions typical of a real conversation.  In paired testing students demonstrated a wider range of interactions (17) to the individual format (10).   The paired students mostly commonly had these interactions: seeking confirmation, asking a question, asking for agreement, clarification requests, and prompting elaboration, finishing sentences, and referring to partner’s ideas.  Over half of all interactions in the one-on-one with the examiner was asking a question.

As Modern Language teachers, we will want to encourage oral communication in the classroom.  We can have our students do more oral work in pairs.  We can structure students speaking  from very basic conversations up to free-flowing spontaneous conversations about common topics. Our scaffolding will allow our Second Language students to have more complex and personally meaningful conversations.

Most of the  Spanish activities I have developed are for pairs. A few of them are

–Spanish Tell Me About Yourself Substitution Sentences    (Partners substitute in their own answers to tell about themselves

– Spanish Conversation Questions Spontaneous Speaking Partners  (Partners ask basic questions and then variations on those questions)
– Spanish Friend /Family Member Detailed Description – Partner Talk   (Each partner talks about a family member using possible words)

My Spanish spontaneous speaking activities (20+) includes Modified Speed Dating (Students ask  a question from a card-whole class), Structured Speaking (Students substitute in or select words to communicate in pairs),  Role Playing (Students talk as people in pictures or drawing from 2-4 people) and Speaking Mats (Can talk using a wide variety of nouns, verbs and adjectives to express their ideas- pairs or small group),  Spontaneous Speaking (based on visuals or topics in pairs),  and Grammar speaking games (pairs or small group). Available for a nominal fee at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

My three formative assessment books:   http://is.gd/tbook

 

Formative Assessment +Technology = Foreign Language Speaking Fluency ISTE 2012

Formative Assessment: continual improvement from where the modern language students are at present  to where we want them to be in their speaking through monitoring, giving feedback and providing time for improvement
Students speaking -> formative feedback ->  students speaking -> formative feedback -> speaking fluency

Technology: Motivates students since they talk about real things;  brings the  foreign language students’ world into the class and allows students to see the world of the new language area
Student talks about the teacher’s digital pictures or Flickr pictures  from target language area with question words data sheet
Student talks about the teacher’s digital pictures or Flickr pictures  from target language area  with a conversation data chart
Student talks about student taken picture posted to class Flickr account  for student’s number of consecutive sentences data list
Student talks about student taken picture  for conversation about last weekend with a conversation data chart
Student tells about his/her house using phone picture while partner monitors using a speaking chart
Student talks about a party, records it inVoki , moves it to wiki page where the student writes suggestions for improvement
Spreadsheet for analyzing students’ speaking per speaking function overtime.

Foreign Language / Modern Language Speaking Fluency (Spontaneous Speaking)  Students go from memorized sentences/dialogues to speaking spontaneously about common topics through scaffolded exercises that continually provide them with new speaking strategies. The students  demonstrate language fluency through speaking with minimal pauses about a new topic with no preparation.

Mobile learning (mlearning) Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL)

Two Youtube videos  on the importance of speaking in modern language class http://bit.ly/mlspeaking and of monitoring students’ speaking http://bit.ly/MLFAP2

A few technologies for modern language students to demonstrate their  speaking so they can receive feedback for improvement	Harry Grover Tuttle https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com
Pictures – on phone/mobile learning device Picture + music Animoto Picture + voice Voki (avatar), Fotobabble, Audioboo Pictures + voice Yodio	Voice – phone call / leave a message Voice recording – phone/ mobile learning device
Video recorded – – phone/ mobile learning device Live video – Skype

Other resources:

Free Flickr Images for common vocabulary collected by my students for full info go to Blog, http://wp.me/p262R-De  1) Go to http://www.flickr.com, 2) click on the word Search, 3) click on Tags only, on the right side of the search box, 3) then, enter spancon +(subject) such as spancon +casa– search the blog for the full listing. No words, just pictures. Can be used in any language for quick vocabulary review using real objects and for speaking in short sentences.

Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. My book includes a procedure to assess all students in the class in just three minutes. It provides, for each of fifteen language functions such as socializing, asking for and giving information, and explaining, ten different speaking strategies to help students to improve. http://bit.ly/Tutbks.  Also, my Formative Assessment Responding to Your Students, and    Student Writing Through Formative Assessment books. If you did not get a discount for the books at the session, please email me.

My 20 Spanish spontaneous speaking activities such as Modified Speed Dating -AR verbs, Modified Speed Dating -Leisure/Sports, Spanish Conversation Topics- Partners, Multiple Sentences Board Game, Describing a friend, Talking about classes, Preterite Game & Speaking, and Clothing Spontaneous Speaking Mat are available for a nominal fee at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Search for modern language or foreign language on my blog https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com

Class increase of 12 points over last semester

I give a pre-test and a post test in my Spanish course.  From the pre-test I can measure the students incoming knowledge.  From the post-test I measure their departing knowledge.   More importantly, I analyze the results of each unit test by the various categories on the test. If many students do poorly on a certain section, I reteach it.  The next semester I start out that particular point with  the reteaching material.  I also do many formative assessments so that I can give students new strategies to do better.  This semester my students did an average of 12 points better than last semester’s students.  I have analyzed the final to see the area in which they lost the most points – writing mini-compositions and have begun to figure out ways to help them. We will do more writing in class and on our class wiki. I will focus on the verb forms to tell a story such  as what I did last weekend. I will have them write out their weekend in a chronological order and make sure that they use a different verb in each sentence. We will do mini-writings over several class periods. For the final they do not need complicated sentences; they just need simple sentences that communicate different ideas.  My goal is to increase this coming semester’s average by 10 points over last semester.

By how much will you increase your class average  this coming year?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

Using Modern Language (FL) Apps Even When …

I have written a blog about identifying and categorizing Spanish apps. As I’ve been thinking about the present state of modern language /foreign language apps, I’ve realized that the inadequacies of these language apps present great learning opportunities for our students.

Students can look at and do a vocabulary or phrase modern language app /foreign language app such as Learn Spanish ((Droid) or Hola (Droid)

Then

– Students can analyze what important vocabulary is missing from the topic and make a supplementary list. For example, the housing category may have tableware but not bed or chair.

– If the app only presents individual words, the students can create a meaningful target language sentence or question for each word. For example, for the word “lake”, the students may ask “What is your favorite lake?”

– Students can analyze what important phrases or questions are missing and can create those lists. They may see look at a “time”category but they find that the question “When?” is missing. They make up a question using that question word.

– They can analyze what important topics are missing from the app. Perhaps the app has housing and animals but does not have occupations and city places.

– They can see how many meaningful sentences they can create from the present vocabulary list.

– They can answer any questions given in the app. For example, they can answer “How much does this cost?” with the price of a shirt.

– They can rearrange the questions or statements to create a logical conversation about the topic.

– They can think of a typical language task for a topic such as having a dirty spoon on the restaurant table and use the existing sentences and add others to be able to get a clean spoon.

In this way, students go from consumers to producers. They analyze what they are doing to see what is missing. They think about critical vocabulary, phrases, and topics instead of simply doing a drill program. They do not just repeat but they answer or comment on. They build on. The students become language users!

How do your students deal with modern language apps that do not do everything  well?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

Check Lower Level Learning Immediately (Formative Assessment)

We all want our students to be learning at the higher levels of thinking.  However, they first have to learn  lower level information.  For example, Spanish students want to converse in the language but until they learn basic vocabulary and grammar such as the present tense; they cannot converse.  We can change the format of class so that after we have introduced the lower level learning and have them practice it enough to know whether they understand the concept, then we can have them practice the lower level learning at home.

If we have them use an online program that “drills” them, shows them the right answer, and shows them  how to get the right answer,  they can immediately know how well they are doing and be given the opportunity to improve.  They do not have to wait until the next day (or in terms of a college course five days or week) to find out if they can do this lower level thinking.  Since the teacher has put in the program   a full explanation of how to get the right answer, the students can overcome their learning gap (formative feedback aspect of formative assessment).  They can redo the program to verify that they can do this lower level activity well.  They feel successful.  They have practiced this learning in the safety of their homes.

Then, in class, the teacher  can move the students to higher levels from the lower level.  For example, the Spanish students can tell what activities they do that day, can describe the various activities of their family members, and ask others what they things they do during a day.

So how do you practice lower level learning so that students know immediately if they are right or wrong and if they wrong,  do they learn how to change their thinking to get right answers? How do you  use formative assessment to move your students forward in their learning?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

21st Century Skills Critical Thinking- Fact? Inference? Judgment?

Many students need help in developing critical thinking skills as part of  the 21st century skills.  A technique that I have used both when I taught Critical Thinking courses at the college level and when I have taught higher level thinking  in my own Spanish or English  classes is Fact-Inference- Judgment.

Look at this picture taken by me  in Costa Rica:

Fact – something that is obviously (physically)  in the picture, text, movie, etc.  Everyone will agree to this fact.  For example, there are four people in the picture.  There are pigeons.

Inference- based on noticing  things in the picture, text, movie, etc., a person  makes an assumption. This assumption is only a short logical  step from the observation.   A person can state what he/she observed and what inference this lead to.  Others can easily understand the logic of going  directly from the observation to the inference.  Inference making people use statements like “Based on observing… I notice … I see and therefore …).  For example, I notice that they have on short sleeves so I infer it is warm.   It looks like there are young children, a young adult and an older adult, I assume that this is a grandmother, a daughter and her children.

A judgment is a value statement or emotional statement. Although something in the picture or text may be a springboard, there is no logical leap.  Judgments take a strong value or emotional stand on the media.  Judgments usually express their viewpoint through  opinion-based adjectives (“handsome”,  “unsafe”) , adverbs  (“dangerously”,   “peacefully”), verbs (“kill”, “love”) and nouns (“murderer”, “saint” ).  A judgment can be easily challenged by others.  Some judgments for this picture are “The family is happy”  (Not really, the little boy began to cry as the mother moved the pigeon closer to her son.” A fact is that the two older women are smiling. ) and  “Costa Rica is overrun by pigeons.” (Fact: Pigeons are in some city parks.)

As we help students to give only  facts and inferences about media, we develop their critical thinking.  As we help students to see that some statements are judgments (pure opinion not based on  facts  or inferences), we develop more critical thinkers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

Please avoid cultural stereotypes in images/pictures

Do you creative negative stereotypes by showing outdated pictures or by  showing a picture representing only a small portion of the of people or things from other countries?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

Advocating for a program

In this time of tight money, we might want to rethink how we advocate for our programs.  The old show-them- the-wonderful projects has to give way to more academic proof.  We have to go beyond just test scores or state tests.

Let’s look at Foreign Language as an example.

Traditionally, teachers have  invited principals and other administrators in for special culture events such as a “Cinco de Mayo” celebration.

However, here are some more convincing ways of advocating.

– Have a principal or other administrator time as students talk for two minutes in the language about a picture.

– Print out a list of all the language skills that the students in your classroom presently have achieved such as “can ask and answer questions about major businesses in town” and “can elaborate when asked questions”.  Word them as “Can do” statements instead of the official syllabus descriptions. Do not list the chapters covered in the textbook!

– At a Board of Education meeting, have your students talk in the target language with someone who speaks that language natively either in a face-to-face conversation or a videoconference conversation.

– In cooperation with the local Chamber of Commerce, have your language students produce signs in the target language for local businesses. Have part of the sign say something like, “Produced by Foreign Language Students at ……”

Each of these moves from the advocacy of talking about the benefits of language study to the advocacy of the students performing in the second language.

How do you plan to advocate for your program?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

Improve FL Speaking Fluency With Formative Assessment

NYSAFLT  Conference Oct. 16, 2010

If we want students to be speakers of the language, then we have to let them speak more in the classroom.  Engage them in real language use.

Formative Assessment my definition: The process of helping students to immediately move forward from their present diagnosed learning to the expected learning.

Formative Assessment components:

Student does something in the language →

Is monitored →

Is diagnosed (determine present status and assess the gap between the present and expected learning; identify a strategy to improve) →

Is given formative feedback →

Has time for improvement →

Is re-assessed to show improvement →

Celebrates success

Formative assessment  create a culture of success, of constant improvement

Two Formative Assessment videos from the UK:

Secondary Assessment for Learning

Modern Foreign Languages Peer Assessment

Formative assessment advantages and concerns. You do not grade formative assessment or it becomes summative. It is critical that students be given a new strategy or a new way to think about the learning.

Success or Failure Grading?

Importance of Peer assessment. When peers assess peers, students can talk more in class and get more feedback.

Speaking Assessment: Identify the specific language function and level.

Student 1 speaks for a minute while Student 2 records number said. Student 2 reports back to Student 1 and gives additional suggestions. Student 1 practices the improvements.

Student 2 speaks on another topic  for a minute while Student 1 records number said. Student 1 reports back to Student 2 and gives additional suggestions. Student 2 practices the improvements.

Record the information on this baseline.

Students may need teacher given strategies if they do not show sufficient improvement from peer-to-peer help.  The  teacher has to have a large variety of strategies, each of which leads directly to the students’  being successful.

I have worked on 16 different speaking assessments and each one has about ten different strategies for the students.

Tuttle, H. G. (2009). Formative Assessment: Responding to Students. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Hopefully, my book, Improving Students Speaking Through Formative Assessment, will be out in late April. To be put on the mailing list, email me at htuttlebs@gmail.com

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

Escuela- Hispanic School Pictures from Flickr

Share these with your Spanish teachers so they can promote language use through talking and writing about hispanic schools through flickr images.

Ninos a la salida de la escuela Punta Cana. Republica Dominicana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/burtonez/273321085/

la Escuela de Lenguaje en Las Palmas
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hortensia/186009195/

Escuela de Flamenco, Cordoba, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barthelomaus/129380157/

escuela de uros, Lake Titicaca ,Peru
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28148072@N00/73302011/

Escuela Rural, Republica Dominicana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/74820634/

Estudiantes en la calle, San fermines, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/888581808/

escuela lic. “francisco aranda” Avenida Cedeño. San Juan de los Morros. Estado Guárico. Venezuela.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xolkan/1294975980/

Escuela D190 12/2004, La Florida, Santiago, Chile
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monky/353105663/

Escuela D190 12/2004 La Florida, Santiago, Chile
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monky/353768937/

Educación autónoma y popular! Muro de la Escuela Autónoma Rebelde Zapatista en la comunidad de San Juan de la Libertad. Chiapas, Mexico
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joserevueltas/576088432/

Revista de Gimnasia Escuela N.o 3, Ovallito, Chile
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ovallito/45500626/

 

Spanish Street (calle)Scenes Photos from Flickr

Here are a variety of hispanic streets. Please share with your Spanish teacher so that he/she can help the students to improve their speaking and writing through visuals.

CALLE

Calle de las flores, Andalucia, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/guijarro85/1172646698/

Calle Zamora decorada para la navidad, Salmanca, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marioquartz/311952341/

Calle feliz, Iquitos Loreto Peru
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pierre_pouliquin/267491002/

Calle que lleva nuestro nombre, Montevideo, Uruguay
http://www.flickr.com/photos/car_tav/342443115/

Calle Obispo with the Hotel Ambos Mundos (Hemingway’s haunt), Havana, Cuba
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmannix/314096627/

Calle Santa Isabel, Madrid, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photocapy/399184789/

Calle del leon (hisortia, Madrid, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nafria/411676144/

Fútbol en la Calle 26 de Marzo #8, Montevideo, Uruguay
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuducos/1633470952/

Calle del diamante, Xalapa, Mexico
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63095335@N00/361694634/

Frutería. Calle San Esteban. Sevilla, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gonzalez-alba/1458921303/

A stall in Calle Heredia, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barrycornelius/802221898/

Pinturas en la Calle El Conde, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tecnorrante/99238955/

Other Spanish (Hispanic) images:

 

Spanish streets – Calle
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/spanish-street-callescenes-photos-from-flickr/

Spanish sports –Deporte
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/spanish-sport-deporte-pictures-from-flickr-for-student-conversations/

Spanish transportation Transportes
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/spanish-language-transportes-transportations-from-various-hispanic-countries/

Spanish restaurant Restaurante
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/16/restaurant-pictures-from-flickr-for-spanish-and-other-language-conversations/

If you have ideas you would like to share about the problems that students have in being fluent speakers and, if possible, the possible solutions, please add as a comment.  For example,  some students can not keep a conversation focused on the topic – a solution is to start them with a series of pictures about the topic or for them to focus on a specific problem such as an ordering problem in a restaurant.

Formative Assessment for Asking Questions in World Languages and ESL

World Language teachers (Spanish, French, Germany, Chinese, Italian, etc.) and ESL teachers want their students to become fluent in the language. However, often they have no easy way to measure the students’ fluency nor the time to listen to each student. A solution is to have students practice in groups of two with their partner providing some formative feedback according to a checklist or collection form.

1. A student is to ask ten questions about a picture in a minute while her/his partner counts the questions. At the end of a minute, the partner gives feedback to the speaker such as “You asked nine questions. What else could you ask about …..? The partner points to a place, object or person that the speaker did not ask a question about.

2. A student is to ask all the question words about the picture. Her/his partner checks off each question word on the list as the partner says it. At the end of a minute, the partner gives the feedback such as “You used all the question words.” or “You used all the question words except Why? What is a Why question for this picture?”

3. A student is to ask and answer all the question words for a picture. His /her partner checks off each question word on the question column and checks off the answer-the-question column. At the end of the minute, the partner gives the feedback such as ” You asked and answered 4 questions. You did answer the question “When..” but what other answers are possible for that question?”

4. A student is to ask complex questions about a picture such as “What color is the table that is next to the door?” or “How many people who are standing have red shirts?” within a minute. Her/his partner checks off the question word column and the complex sentence column and gives feedback such as “You said four complex sentences about the picture. One question ‘Where is the girl?’ was not a complex question. How could you make it one? or “I did not understand your question about the food, could you please say it again?”

5. A student and his/her partner have a conversation about a visual. The first student is a reporter and the second student is a person in the visual. The second student jots down a slash for each question that the reporter asks and one for each answer he/she responds to. At the end of the minute, the non-reporter reports back on how many questions were asked and answered. The two students brainstorm how they could generate more meaningful questions about the visual. Then they do the same activities, after switching roles, for another visual.

How else can students give each other formative feedback on their speaking? Please share your additional ideas on how students give each other formative feedback in your subject area. I’m writing a book and would like more examples than the ones I generate.

(My 365th blog)

Harry Grover Tuttle©2007

Spanish Sport (Deporte) Pictures from Flickr for Student Conversations

Deportes – Please share with your Spanish teacher so he/she can have a source of pictures for classroom conversations about sports. Can the students ask 10 questions about the picture? Pretend to be someone in the picture describing what she/he is doing? Have two people in the picture having a discussion about what they are doing. Tell what was, is and will happen.

How will the teacher assess the students? How will the teacher give formative feedback to the students so that they can improve?

Marathon -Barcelona, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fibercool/410396747/

Volibol – Buenos Aires, Argentina
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_alby2_/250976891/

Boats – puerto madero, Argentina
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johannrela/678281616/

ejercicio por bicicleta – Sevilla, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jom_tijola/536943658/

futbol – Pamplona, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hireen/400098788/

ciclismo, bicicletas – Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soschilds/392414303/

Palacio de los deportes de Madrid, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/legumvra/1561180229/

Saltar del puente – Venezuela
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmaldona/1105674787/

Correr – Nike10K
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmundaca/295897139/

Un ganador -sign Nogales, Mexico
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/557232735/

Tienda de futbol -Madrid, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/villamota/52203130/

Kayak Race – Sevilla, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/z1on0110/846962635/

baloncesto – Madrid, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vedia/103118224/

patinaje agresivo -Madrid, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/herzeleyd/1332655046/

 

Other Spanish (Hispanic images) for conversations or writing

Spanish streets – Calle
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/spanish-street-callescenes-photos-from-flickr/

Spanish sports –Deporte
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/spanish-sport-deporte-pictures-from-flickr-for-student-conversations/

Spanish transportation Transportes
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/spanish-language-transportes-transportations-from-various-hispanic-countries/

Spanish restaurant Restaurante
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/16/restaurant-pictures-from-flickr-for-spanish-and-other-language-conversations/

 

Spanish Language Menu
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/learning-hispanic-culture-through-spanish-language-menus/

If you have other flickr Spanish sports images to add, please put them in a comment.

If you have ideas you would like to share about the problems that students have in being fluent speakers and, if possible, the possible solutions, please add as a comment.  For example,  some students can not keep a conversation focused on the topic – a solution is to start them with a series of pictures about the topic or for them to focus on a specific problem such as an ordering problem in a restaurant.

 

 

Checking for Understanding: Coupons for More Than Participation in the Classroom

A world language (Spanish/French) teacher was telling me that she gives a coupon to a student when he/she participates (Thanks, Kitty). The students turn the coupons in at the end of the month.

I would suggest a variation that reflects more of standards-based assessment of language learning.

A coupon of 1 point represents identifying a vocabulary item (“window”) or doing a grammar item (I form of to sing)
A coupon of 2 points represents asking or answering a basic question such as “Where do you live?” through speaking or writing.
A coupon of 5 points indicates that the student has read, listened, or watched to some information, then responded by speaking or writing in five different sentences or five different questions about the one topic.

The student are told that by the end of the month they are to have at least 120 points.

Each week they can count up their 1 point, 2 point, and 5 point coupons. They could make a graph to see where they are and to analyze their progress. They will quickly realize that by only answering with vocabulary or grammar or by only answering basic questions, they will not get them their needed total points. A look at their weekly score provides a formative assessment of how they use language in the classroom. As teachers we have to provide them with the opportunity to use their language in extended ways and to scaffold their writing and speaking so that they can speak or write in extended ways. We can share techniques for saying or writing five different sentences or questions about a topic. We can help them to make the transition from minimal language use to expressing ideas in the language.

How do you use participation coupons as formative assessment?

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Spanish Language Transportes (Transportations) From Various Hispanic Countries

As a Spanish teacher you can use the following Flickr images to show your students the variety of transportation in Spanish speaking countries. These images also provide great speaking and writing opportunities. If you do not teach Spanish, please share with your Spanish teacher. Gracias.

El tranvia -Buenos Aires, Argentina
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91324818@N00/802535625

Transporte popular – Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hectorgarcia/512839552/

Transporte publico 2 Tijuana, Mexico
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rupertrocks/298421839/

Transporte ecologista-Malecón, Centro Habana, Cuba
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43732446@N00/119137013/

Transporte – aeropuerto, Madrid, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/517876985/

Transporte – Parque Tezozomoc, Azcapotzalco. Mexico
http://www.flickr.com/photos/subzonica/170853679/

Transporte publico taxco-Mexico
http://www.flickr.com/photos/reinitamateur/74845493/

Transporte publico -Monterrey, Mexico
http://www.flickr.com/photos/renguerra/4805782/

Servicio de bicicletas – Sevilla, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/torchondo/876183183/

El transporte -Habana, Cuba
http://www.flickr.com/photos/renguerra/4805782/

Medio de transporte-izabal, Guatemala
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cvander/8661198/

Imagen -transporte Valparaiso, Chile
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjohnsonh/354884357/

What other flickr images have you found for Hispanic transportation?

Other Spanish (Hispanic images) for conversations or writing

Spanish streets – Calle
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/spanish-street-callescenes-photos-from-flickr/

Spanish sports –Deporte
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/spanish-sport-deporte-pictures-from-flickr-for-student-conversations/

Spanish restaurant Restaurante
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/16/restaurant-pictures-from-flickr-for-spanish-and-other-language-conversations/

 

Spanish Language Menu
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/learning-hispanic-culture-through-spanish-language-menus/

 

 

 

Restaurant Pictures From Flickr For Spanish and Other Language Conversations

Here are a few restaurant pictures from various Hispanic countries so that your Spanish students (and other students) can practice their conversation skills. If you are not a Spanish teacher, please share them with your Spanish teacher or other language teacher.

Restaurante rojo, Mexico
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/557236325/

La Vita e Bella (Italian Restaurant en Madrid Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97445131@N00/611503369/

El rico pulpo en Carballo, Espana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/comcinco/218469076/

Arte Vida en Espana (beach restaurant)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaspars/442433335/

Desayuno 1 de enero,Colonia, Uruguay
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luisjoujr/86609684/

 

Calderitas, Mexico Restaurante
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanlloyd/44106692/

Restaurante, Acapulco, Mexico
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bambino/225597017/

Restaurante , Buenos Aires, Argentina
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aldoalexandre/47880808/

If you know of online pictures of Hispanic restaurantes, please share.

Other Spanish (Hispanic images) for conversations or writing

Spanish streets – Calle
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/spanish-street-callescenes-photos-from-flickr/

Spanish sports –Deporte
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/spanish-sport-deporte-pictures-from-flickr-for-student-conversations/

Spanish transportation Transportes
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/spanish-language-transportes-transportations-from-various-hispanic-countries/

 

Spanish Language Menu
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/learning-hispanic-culture-through-spanish-language-menus/

 

 

 

Developing Students’ Listening Comprehension Skill With an Image (Picture)-Spanish, World Language, ESL

Developing the listening skill through using images (pictures)

One student describes a picture orally to a partner. When the first person is done, the partner repeats the description, using the picture as an aid for recall.

One student orally describes the picture to another student who does not see it; the second student then repeats the description to the first student.

Two students look at a picture; then one student looks away while the other student asks him questions about it.

One student orally describes a picture to a second student who does not see it; the second student then draws a copy of it.

One student orally describes a picture to an­other student who then is given a choice of three pictures and must choose the one described.

One student describes a person or an object in the picture and the other student identifies which person or object it is.

While both students look at the picture, one students describes a person or an object in about five to ten sentences and includes one or two incorrect things about it. The second students has to tell what was wrong and correct it.

The first student says ten sentences about the picture and then the partner says ten different sentences. The first student listens for an duplicate sentences.

I would assign students to get several pictures from the Internet (Flickr) on a specific topic such as restaurant, city, house, etc. so that they can share the pictures (URLs) with me and print out the pictures for work with their partners. As a teacher, I can quickly build up my digital visual library for listening.

 

©Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

 

Revised from Harry Grover Tuttle’s “Using Visual Material in the Foreign Language Classroom”, Learning Resources, Vol 2-5 (Feb. 1975) 9-13.

Other Spanish (Hispanic images) for conversations or writing

Spanish streets – Calle
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/spanish-street-callescenes-photos-from-flickr/

Spanish sports –Deporte
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/spanish-sport-deporte-pictures-from-flickr-for-student-conversations/

Spanish transportation Transportes
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/spanish-language-transportes-transportations-from-various-hispanic-countries/

Spanish restaurant Restaurante
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/16/restaurant-pictures-from-flickr-for-spanish-and-other-language-conversations/

 

Spanish Language Menu
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/learning-hispanic-culture-through-spanish-language-menus/

 

 

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Spanish-Language Restaurant Menus For Culture and Conversation

The following is a list of Collective Commons (free to use in the classroom) pictures from Flickr that show various menus from Hispanic countries or locations that have Hispanic food. Students studying Spanish can come to understand the many different types of foods as well as the varieties within each type such as tacos. They can practice their ordering skills with real food and figure out their bill with real prices! Each web address is followed by a brief description.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robennals/499187153/
Menu with Spanish and poor English translation +++

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shyamh/148106511/
Menu Mexican divided by entrada, sopa, ensalada +++

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flooznyc/430646028/
Mexican Food Deli Menu

http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/1155561698/
Yucatan Menu

http://www.flickr.com/photos/esotheos/208495024/
Taco restaurant menu

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rgabriel/514239426/
Menu with ceviche

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seyd/10746077/
Menu from Caribbean

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anjum/368254807/
Puerto Rican Menu (general info)

How do you help students to learn about the variety of Hispanic foods through menus? How do you bring the Hispanic world into your classroom through technology?

Other Spanish (Hispanic images) for conversations or writing

Spanish streets – Calle
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/spanish-street-callescenes-photos-from-flickr/

Spanish sports –Deporte
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/spanish-sport-deporte-pictures-from-flickr-for-student-conversations/

Spanish transportation Transportes
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/spanish-language-transportes-transportations-from-various-hispanic-countries/

 

Spanish Language Menu
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/learning-hispanic-culture-through-spanish-language-menus/

 

 

Nov. 2009 – If you are interested in trying out in your classroom some mini-speaking assessments (2-5) minutes that correspond to various parts of the ACTFL guidelines, please email me (harry.g.tuttle  at gmail) These short assessments  give you instant data/facts on your students’  present progress in speaking and you can re-administer these assessments  to see progress.  I have various assessments from vocabulary, asking and answering questions, asking critical questions about a topic, etc.  Let me know your level such as (Spanish 1- first year of Spanish).    Harry

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

 

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YouTube Songs for Spanish Learning

One way to make a World Language Class come alive is to play songs and clips. You can search YouTube for Spanish and find many songs, commercials, and movie clips.

Here’s a small sampling to share with your Spanish World Language teacher:

Jose Jose– songs in Spanish -his words are quite clear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhOr6tR3cp4&mode=related&search= Jose Jose El Triste

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ynE68kFHUk&mode=related&search= Jose Jose Exito

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UDiFHGj3Hw&mode=related&search= Jose Jose Anda y Ve

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVe6_sbhnGY&mode=related&search= Jose Jose Amnesia

Musicals and famous songs are translated into Spanish

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ldtZsOJ3fk High School Musical Breaking Free (with Spanish subtitle) Are others in this series

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pik3sDIXBjk Lion King We Are One (with Spanish subtitle)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1PCRxVMbBg Yesterday (with Spanish subtitle)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ_WlR82jvg Cat Stevens Father and Son (with Spanish subtitle)

 

Anime, Movie, or Commericals

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkQb5gA8Onc Dragon Ball Z ending (with Spanish subtitles) – karaoke style

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPC_LmvW-AA Spanish Angelus-anime (with Spanish subtitles)-begins at 25

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tqXw6eLnMw Star Troops (with Spanish subtitle) turn sound off

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71TqJul85GE Chad Vader Day Shift Manager (with Spanish subtitle) turn sound off

Why not make it an assignment that each student has to find three songs in Spanish done in the karaoke style (with the Spanish words written out) from YouTube and prepare listening comprehension questions on one of them? If they label each and give you the annotated links, you can have a huge selection within a very short period of time. They will enjoy listening and learning in Spanish.

 

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

Other Spanish (Hispanic images) for conversations or writing

Spanish streets – Calle
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/spanish-street-callescenes-photos-from-flickr/

Spanish sports –Deporte
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/spanish-sport-deporte-pictures-from-flickr-for-student-conversations/

Spanish transportation Transportes
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/spanish-language-transportes-transportations-from-various-hispanic-countries/

Spanish restaurant Restaurante
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/09/16/restaurant-pictures-from-flickr-for-spanish-and-other-language-conversations/

 

Spanish Language Menu
https://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/learning-hispanic-culture-through-spanish-language-menus/

If you have ideas you would like to share about the problems that students have in being fluent speakers and, if possible, the possible solutions, please add as a comment.  For example,  some students can not keep a conversation focused on the topic – a solution is to start them with a series of pictures about the topic or for them to focus on a specific problem such as an ordering problem in a restaurant.

——

 

World Languages: Living in the Classroom Through Technology

I started off my career teaching Spanish. There were very few technologies available then. Today’s teachers of Spanish and other World Languages have available many technologies that help the language classroom to come alive.

Here are a few uses of technology that bring real language use into the classroom instead of technology that brings drill and practice into the classroom:

Watch satellite shows in the new language and answer questions about them.

Listen to Internet radio stations in the new language and analyze songs or newscasts.

Reading the newspapers in that language through various websites. Instead of reading boring and outdated textbook passages, students can read real information that is current and exciting.

Write via email/IM to students in other locations about societal issues, school concerns, etc. Students can be put in a common “class” in a Blackboard-like environment so that all of their conversations are archived.

Have regularly scheduled videoconferences with classes in other locations in that language.

Create presentations/emovies to share with the other language group/class who react to them or critique them.

What other uses of technology do you have to bring real language, not drill and practice, into the classroom so that our students use world languages as other speakers do?

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

——

Speaking World Languages Through Technology

I am trying to help my son get ready for his first year of teaching Spanish. He’ll have three preps. I am amazed that there are not more online resources to help him in a conversational manner. There are plenty of grammar and of vocabulary sites. I have not found any that promote communication. (I’m counting basic restaurant dialogues as vocabulary since students memorize the conversation.) I do not see collections of pictures that students can ask questions about, pretend to be the people in the situation, explain what is happening, etc. A picture of a statue of Don Quixote does not promote communication. A street scene with a store and people doing things encourages real language use. Likewise, I do not find many real conversations that he can play/download for his class. Sure commercial companies have teaser ones but I could not easily find real conversations (a great use for podcasting). So much technology and so little real life language use. So much technology being used for lower level skills but not for the actual purpose of language which is to being able to converse with another person.

How do you promote real conversations using technology in your World Language classroom?

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

YouTube Video Creation Reflection- Vocabulary

Here are my reflections on uploading a YouTube video that I made on teacher exercises to improve vocabulary in English, ESL, and World Languages. http://www.youtube.com/v/bZ6OJgC4JCM

It took time to find and or create images. The longest time was to find the Flickr images of fruits and vegetables under the Common License, probably about 8 minutes.

I used the free Gliffy to create the concept maps.

It was hard to find crisp examples that would clearly demonstrate the strategies; I had some but others I had to figure out.

I put the presentation in PowerPoint (really Open Office’s Presentation software) so that I could easily go from screen to screen. I used a very large font size so it could be easily seen. I kept the mouse on the extreme right side of the screen.

The presentation starts with a title, author, and contact information screen.

I used a camera stand to avoid the jiggling that my earlier video English essay had. It took a few minutes to get the computer screen to be in the digital camera’s screen- I had to use the zoom in, move the stand, etc.

I had to be very close to the camera and speak in my outside voice to make sure my voice would be recorded. I recorded it inside to avoid extraneous noises. I turned off all possible noise making things (air conditioner, cell phone). The last time I had recorded the Spanish Direct Object outside and you can hear the air conditioner and other noises.

I decided to both say and show the words (strategies) so it took longer than I had planned.

I did have to redo it since I mixed it up what I was reading one of the last screens. I knew it was quicker to redo it than to have to edit it. My camera held both the original and the second movie version.

It took about 27 minutes to upload a 2:31 .mov formatted movie.

I found it difficult to tag this since it covers so many subjects – English, ESL, and World Languages. I know that most World Language teachers will search by their language such as Spanish and not World Language. I was not sure how to tag it to indicate beginning vocabulary.

It takes YouTube about from one hour to seven hours to process the video once it is uploaded depending on the traffic on YouTube. Mine took about 40 minutes.

I just got to see the video and realized that the camera was not straight on so that some of the words are not easily read. I showed it to some other people and they like that I supplied the words and have a specific example of each.

Let me know your reaction about the content and what could be done to make it better without going Hollywood 🙂

I challenge you to put up a YouTube or TeacherTube video during the summer. Let’s try for 300 videos before school starts.

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

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Being Global Communicators -NECC

Many years ago, I started my teaching career as a Spanish teacher. Communication was my focus as was the culture of the Hispanic world.

Alan November at NECC on Wed advocated that our students communicate and work with people in other locations. In addition, he stressed that our students have to develop global perspectives on issues. I was amazed that although he talked about helping our students to develop other perspectives, he used English only resources. If we are going to be global, then we have to begin to use another language.

My students used email to correspond in Spanish and to develop projects with students in Hispanic countries. They learned the views of Spanish speaking people (from Spain and Latin America) as well as the cultural values of these people. Were I teaching Spanish today, I would have my students interact through multiple technologies with Spanish speaking people.

How do your students become global citizens through technology?

 

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

 

YouTube Video Creation From Camera Still Pictures

You and your students can create a YouTube video from still pictures from a camera.

You or your students take still pictures to demonstrate the standards-based learning. For example, a Spanish teacher may take a picture of a spoon with “la cuchara” written in dark big letters underneath it (a word processed slip of paper); another of a knife with the label of “el cuchillo”, etc. A student group may take pictures of a map showing how the Roman Empire grew. Science students may explain a science concept step by step. Then you move these pictures over to Mac’s imovies or PC’s Movie Maker, add narration for each image (for the Spanish example, the teacher pronounces the word several times), add a descriptive title, give credit to your class and then save it in the appropriate format.

You might find the following tutorial helpful if you are moving items (creating a story/scene using Stop-Motion Animation movie )

If students have created a meaningful and powerful standards-based PowerPoint, take a screen shot of each frame (on Mac use the screenshot program and on the PC use the free MWSNAP), and move these shots into your movie making program, add the narration, title and credits, and save it in the appropriate format. If you know of a non-commercial program that does this conversion in an easier fashion, please leave a comment.

Please share your successes or failures in creating YouTube educational videos from camera stills.

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

_____

Become Bilingual, Not Monolingual, To Become Global by Using Technology

I met an elder woman who spoken “broken” English. I found out that she had lived in one country; married a man from another country, moved there, and learned that language; moved to a third country where they learned its language and raised their children; and then moved to the USA and learned English.

I was on a bus in rural Peru. A young boy who was about five years old spoke to me but I did not understand him. His mother told him to speak to me in Spanish, he changed languages, and then he and I talked. This five year from a rural area could speak two languages and his Spanish was much better than mine!

How can we be global citizens if we only speak one language? English is not the most widely spoken language in the world. Chinese is. If our students are monolingual, then they will not be students of the 21st century.

Today’s technology can help us learn another language. With satellite TV, shows can be found from many language groups. DVDs are in multi-language format. There are many language sites on line. With Skype and other videoconferencing resources, we can talk to people of that language area. If you once learned French, Spanish, German, Italian, or a non-European language, you can refresh your skills. Try out your skills whenever you have a chance. Encourage your children to learn another language so that they can speak with others!

Let’s make it a resolution to become at least bilingual! Let’s really become global!

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

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ESL,FL & ELA: Let’s Pool Technology Resources

I think that many students and most faculty seem learning as disconnected subjects. One example is Foreign Language, English as Second Language, and English Language Arts. These three areas share many more commonalities than differences. They all develop skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They all have students communicate basic information, express personal ideas, criticially analyze material, and use social interactions in many different situations. I would like to see online sites where these three areas share their wonderful ideas about teaching and learning so that they can help each other. For example, students need to develop speaking skills in all three subjects so a Foreign Language teacher’s PowerPoint of transportation digital images can be used in the other two subjects. The teachers can pool their technology and print resources. The more we as teachers see the similarities in our subjects, the more we can help each other. The less time we can spend in finding, modifying or creating technology-rich resources, the more time we can spend in planning better lessons that will help our students learn more in-depth and in assessing our students’ growth.

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