Reading Prompt V

Do you have an iPod or another type of .mp3 player? If so, have you used it or anything other than listening to your own music, such as downloading and listening to podcasts? Note some of the points McQuillan made about how podcasting can support second language learning. Which of the ideas from the readings would you be interested in trying out in your own classroom?

I don't own an iPod, maybe I am the only person left that doesn't. Of course, I was also one of the last people I knew to buy a cell phone. Anyways, I do have an mp3 player, and have owned it for about seven years. It's about the size of a flashdrive, and I love the thing. I bought it while working in Japan, it cost me about fifty bucks, and I used it daily on my bus or train ride to work. At that time, there was no podcasting, so I just listened to music. I started to hear about podcasting over the past few years, but didn't think much about it until this semester. My classmates Scott and Josh told me that you could download language lessons, and being the Japanophile that I am, of course I have started to use it. It's great! Just like a lot of other things in this class, I kick myself for not finding out about them earlier. I guess I was too busy. So now I have two podcast that I look at regularly, Japanese podcast 101, and learn Japanese podcast. One is professionally done, the other is some guy in an apartment in Tokyo. I like them both.

The McMillan article provided a ton of ideas for using the ipod in language learning. Being able to download audio files, slow them down, adding images to that audio are all basic ideas. The article went on to point out more inventive ways of using it, interviewing native speakers, creating your own original lessons, adding script to your audio files, and finally near the end of the article it even mentioned a web site that I really like for ESL students, Voice of America, which apparently has podcast.

Really though, the McMillan article was informative, because it covered all the basics of what I have missed by not having an ipod. That is, that it can deliver large quantities of data, both audio and visual in a quick and easy to use format. Out of all the bells and whistles that he described, what stood out most for me was that both teachers and students can create materials specifically suited for them and then publish and use it on the ipod. Keeping this in mind and then creating language exchange with students from other countries, you could have some very high-tech learing going on. It isn't hard to do. This idea is especially interesting to me. Having taught in both the US and Japan, I have often looked for ways to create language exchange between those two worlds. Ipod seems to be at least one solution.

Quick Share

It was nice to teach a bit on Thursday, I haven't taugth a group of students since leaving SISD in May.

I used a microsoft powerpoint slideshow, and it went smoothly. The only trouble I had was moving that slideshow onto my blog. In case anybody else has similar trouble: you need to upload your slideshow to google docs and then hyperlink that to your blog. The problem is, if you use the new version of powerpoint you need to change it over to the older version in order for google docs to allow the upload. Dont ask me why, but thank you Diana and Josh for helping me figure that out.

Reading Prompt IV

Comment on issues raised by Levy and Stockwell,
CALL educators and the design of CALL products.
Comment on types of RSS feeds .

The part of the Levy text (ch 2) that stuck out for me was task design. If the task included in a paticular piece of CALL is boring and simple, the learner is not going to have much interest. On the other hand, a learner could also complain that tasks are too complex and difficult, and give up on it. Good CALL design is going to keep these perspectives in mind and produce something in between. As educators we need to look for CALL that is desiged with easily accessible task, but also task design that is challenging enough to keep the learner engaged and interested.

As far as RSS, there has got to be hundreds of ways to use this with students. One easy example of how it might be used with a class of L2s is setting up a "feed" to a class blog. Choose a traditional, non-controversial news group (VOANEWS.com) and ask students to write responses to the stories that roll through. The point is that the students are following the news, discussing it, and responding. They practice skills like reading and writing, plus decesion making task can additionally be completed in groups.

As for me personally, and I would recommend this to any teacher, use the RSS to keep up with buisness and financial news, take control of your investments. Follow different companies and play the stock market! Normally, a teacher is far too busy during the day to follow changes that take place every hour in the world of fortune 500 companies. During working hours, a school teacher is literally shut out from the world (most schools in Texas don't even have windows!). By using RSS technology, the playing field is evened up somewhat, and teachers can keep up with everybody else in the financial world. Teachers become day traders, and don't need to spend very much time to do it (only during breaks, and never while giving test). That is to say, you do not have to spend your day wathcing the ticker and cable tv to get rich on wall street. The RSS reader quickly brings tailored news and information directly to you. Set up your RSS to follow news about companies that you have stocks in, open the reader once in the morning and then at lunch, if circumstances are happening in the financial world, quickly make adjustments to your financial portfolio and get rich.

Nobody says teachers have to be poor chumps and live shackled to promises of state retirement money (all of that is based on wall street investments any way). Build your own future with the RSS google reader.

Japanese and CALL technology

Cell phone novels

Students in Wakayama, Japan using i-pod touch for English lessons

Gaming company joins CALL ranks

Tags and links

A youtube video that explains how to make a blog using google applications.

The official voice of the United States federal government, this site provides current news with complete audio and text transcripts for English language learners, Voice of America. Free and easy to use. Give it a try.

The UTSA MA TESL's new ning site, technology rules!

UTSA IEP study list, this is from UTSA's own Englsih for International Students site. Here, is a page that contains a list of English language learning activities and their web links.

The conversation partner program is something I administrate as graduate assistant at UTSA. Check out the link. If you email me directly at christopher.pope@utsa.edu, I will gladly pair you up with an international or L1 English speaking student for conversation and culture exchange. If you need some experience teaching, or are looking for someone to practice your Chinese/Turkish/Arabic/English with over coffee and biscuits this might be a something to do.