DomoNation.com: Modals with Domo! by Eismannschaft


I used Domo animation from Go Animate to make a comic slide show to help kids see the differences between the English modal verbs.  By using a comic of a well known character, the younger learners will be more likely to pay attention to the lesson, and thus can get more out of it.  Salience is always an important thing to consider in a lesson or task, and in this Web 2.0 age, salience in online lessons and tasks will keep kids from getting side-tracked and going on Facebook every chance they get.

I would use a comic like this to make a task that involves watching the animation and responding via classblog, microblog, or even a written journal to a few questions about the use of modals by the characters.  This will teach the students how modals can and cannot be used in English. This, being a Japanese animated character, would be particularly salient to Japanese and Korean learners of English, who struggle to grasp the intricacies of the English modal verbs.

Voice Thread as Digital Storytelling in L2 Learning

I think that Voice Thread is a great tool for providing a space for collaborative input and interaction in a digital storytelling task.  It involves all of the forms of communication, (reading, writing, listening, and speaking), and allows full collaboration in the class.  Being online, it can be used in, or outside of class time and the classroom setting, thus extending the time and contexts in which students can learn!

I commented on two of my classmates' Voice Threads. the first one was about learning French culture as a means to help improve communication in French.  Learning L2 Culture by Nick.  The second Voice Thread I commented on was about the uses of music in teaching L2. I found through my own experiences that music can help L2 cultural understanding more than it can aid grammatical and lexical development.

Bookr

Bookr is a fascinating internet tool that can be used in so many different ways to facilitate digital storytelling! It can be used to give a proper slideshow, online, and it's shareable with others! I made a Bookr about my family vacation back in 2007. My Family Vacation Bookr

I think that there are many applications for teaching that Bookr can allow.  First, I can see it being used as a format for second language learners to share their cultural experiences and learn from one another. Secondly, and through the same example, the L2 students are practicing self-expression in their L2, which is more important practice than simple memorization of grammar and vocabulary, because the students are creating original language through the exercise. Third, students can use this tool to learn how to use digital media in the Web 2.0 world we live in now.

TED Branches out into TED Ed!

I found blog post from one of the Edublogs to which I subscribe that announces the development of TED Ed. This development shows that TED, in an effort to expand its mantra into the world of education, has begun to apply the ideas that it embodies. I really feel that TED Ed is the way of the future, as far as education goes. Teachers can use any video, including their own, to create an original lesson, and track the progress of their students. This tool has already revolutionized teaching, and I believe that with the backing of TED, it will lead the way for online education for long to come.

Free Tech 4 Teachers: TED Ed

Podcasting Made Easy

In the modern world, full of mp3 players and smartphones, time doesn't have to be lost during travel to and from school or work.  Now, anyone with internet access and an mp3 player can fill that lost time on the bus or train with news or other shows that interest them.  All you have to do is subscribe to a podcast you like, and new episodes will add themselves when you dock your mp3 player.  So essentially, you could be watching a new episode every morning!

I found a great ESL Podcasting site, called ESL Pod.  I have attached a link to a specific podcast about political ideologies from their site.  I found it very interesting.

http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=11812486

Podcasts can come from other places too, like the iTunes Store in Apple iTunes.  Apple makes it exceedingly easy to find podcasts you find interesting, and subscribe to them.  It will even queue new episodes for you and upload them to your iPod when you sync it. 

Podcasting is a great way to find new shows that fit into your busy daily life, and stay connected with people and ideas from around the world!

Twitter is dumb

Twitter can be useful for people staying up with the latest fashion trends, celebrity gossip, trivial knowledge, and even breaking news. Despite these awesome pros of using twitter, if you don't have a smartphone, it's pointless. The information that is posted on twitter is only relevant for people who sit and stare at their twitterfeed 24/7/365.

That being said, there is one way to cheat twitter's adhd inducing characteristics that can make it a useful tool for educators and other professionals; provided they have a smartphone... Tweets can be tracked, (as mentioned in the "28 Creative Ways Teachers are Using Twitter" article, 28 Creative Ways teachers are using Twitter) to discover trends and to see students' and other teachers' progress and findings.

Other than this, however, the rest of the article seems to suggest classroom-disrupting and distracting behaviors for the 21st century student. I hope I am not hurting anyone's feelings by taking this stance, but tweeting the answers to questions in the middle of class seems to be detrimental to the learning process. I feel that if the teacher and students are meeting in a classroom on a regular basis, it stands to reason that the students ought to be expected to raise their hands to answer a question posed. Also, God forbid a student should have to use a pen and paper to take a quiz or test.

There is one bright spot to all of this... I found in Using Twitter as an Educational Tool that Twitter is a great way for connecting students in countries around the world, and providing a place where they can discuss topics and share ideas.  The example that I thought was truly ingenious was that Twitter is the perfect online platform to tell collaborative stories, using posts from kids anywhere in the world.  Since they are limited to 140 characters, everyone has an equal say in the development of the tale.

I understand that Twitter can be helpful for someone with enough technology on-hand to look like an 80's action movie villain, but for most people, especially in the ESL field, money isn't the most plentiful thing in life, and twitter may be a bit unreasonable for the classroom. That being said, the opportunity for the exchange of new ideas and classroom activities is endless, and for a teacher making a lesson plan, or seeking help on how to reach a struggling pupil, Twitter may just provide you with some quick answers.