I have a question for anyone who can answer...
I am having problems downloading articles with my citeulike page and getting them on my list of articles. I tried to look around on our main tifle blog (like on the resource page) but could not find what I was looking for, so if anyone can walk me through with a few quick steps that would be greatly appreciated :)
Thanks!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Watch out Food Network!
Hope y'all enjoy my video of me making Gazpacho, for any other recipes please send me a message :) haha
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Mini Project
I tried to upload this as a word doc, but I am not doing something right... here is my paper part- my video will follow soon!
The use of technology in the foreign language classroom is a hot topic. Everyone wants to know how teachers can incorporate technology into their lessons. There are many different ways you can use technology from blogs and podcasts to the use of digital videos. I am sure countless numbers of students have watched a homemade video on youtube.com. Why not watch one in the target language? The students are able to get valuable input from the videos they watch, as well as output with the creation of their own videos.
I am a strong believer in giving students a context in which to speak, and making their own cooking show is a great real life situation. They are given a reason to speak; they are explaining how to cook a specific recipe to someone else. During second language acquisition it is important to have meaningful input and output. This activity allows the students to work on a project that will let them create original videos explaining different recipes, and they will be speaking the entire time in the target language.
I came up with the idea of making a video about preparing gazpacho, an authentic Spanish dish, because cooking is something I am passionate about. I plan on using this type of video activity to teach my students vocabulary words related to food. This activity not only exposes the students to a wealth of vocabulary but also culture, they are able to research some popular dishes of Spanish speaking countries. This video could be used for beginning or intermediate level Spanish students. I will use this activity when we are beginning our unit on food. I will show my students the video I created as a way to model what I want them to do in the future. They will have to take notes on the different food words they hear and decide if this is a recipe they would like to try. I will give the students their assignment and then I will let the students research and then choose different recipes, which are authentic to Spain and Latin America, that they want to use in their videos. They will have two weeks to research and film their videos, which will be a minimum of three minutes in length. They will then have to show their videos to the class. This activity not only facilitates the learning of vocabulary but also helps them expand their cultural knowledge of the target culture.
This project can be carried out in two different ways; one if our school has video cameras that are available to the students and the other is if we do not. Hopefully, we will be lucky enough to have the video cameras. After watching my video and getting the instructions for the project, I will give the students a short tutorial on how to use the video cameras and how to upload and edit videos. The students will be responsible for recoding, editing, and uploading their videos. If we do not have video cameras, this activity can still work. The students will still prepare their recipes but they will take photographs during each step. They will put these photos into a PowerPoint presentation and will be able to share with the class what they did in order to complete the recipe. This way they are still getting the same output and input as they would with the video cameras. To hold all the students accountable for paying attention to each video they will have to copy down the ingredients and the steps to prepare each dish. After all the videos/presentations have been seen the students can assemble a recipe book so that they can forever have all the authentic recipes they have learned from their classmates.
I will assess this project based on several criteria. To score a 100 on the project the student will have to meet these requirements:
• Student speaks in the target language and has few to no grammatical errors in video.
• Student does not leave any part of recipe out and steps are clear and easy to follow.
• The video is the appropriate length of time, is easy to see, and is edited with smooth transitions.
I would like to focus more on the fact that the students are coming up with original output more so than the technical aspects of making the video. I think it is important that the video be clear and easy to understand and I will focus on comprehension of the speaker.
The use of technology in the foreign language classroom is a hot topic. Everyone wants to know how teachers can incorporate technology into their lessons. There are many different ways you can use technology from blogs and podcasts to the use of digital videos. I am sure countless numbers of students have watched a homemade video on youtube.com. Why not watch one in the target language? The students are able to get valuable input from the videos they watch, as well as output with the creation of their own videos.
I am a strong believer in giving students a context in which to speak, and making their own cooking show is a great real life situation. They are given a reason to speak; they are explaining how to cook a specific recipe to someone else. During second language acquisition it is important to have meaningful input and output. This activity allows the students to work on a project that will let them create original videos explaining different recipes, and they will be speaking the entire time in the target language.
I came up with the idea of making a video about preparing gazpacho, an authentic Spanish dish, because cooking is something I am passionate about. I plan on using this type of video activity to teach my students vocabulary words related to food. This activity not only exposes the students to a wealth of vocabulary but also culture, they are able to research some popular dishes of Spanish speaking countries. This video could be used for beginning or intermediate level Spanish students. I will use this activity when we are beginning our unit on food. I will show my students the video I created as a way to model what I want them to do in the future. They will have to take notes on the different food words they hear and decide if this is a recipe they would like to try. I will give the students their assignment and then I will let the students research and then choose different recipes, which are authentic to Spain and Latin America, that they want to use in their videos. They will have two weeks to research and film their videos, which will be a minimum of three minutes in length. They will then have to show their videos to the class. This activity not only facilitates the learning of vocabulary but also helps them expand their cultural knowledge of the target culture.
This project can be carried out in two different ways; one if our school has video cameras that are available to the students and the other is if we do not. Hopefully, we will be lucky enough to have the video cameras. After watching my video and getting the instructions for the project, I will give the students a short tutorial on how to use the video cameras and how to upload and edit videos. The students will be responsible for recoding, editing, and uploading their videos. If we do not have video cameras, this activity can still work. The students will still prepare their recipes but they will take photographs during each step. They will put these photos into a PowerPoint presentation and will be able to share with the class what they did in order to complete the recipe. This way they are still getting the same output and input as they would with the video cameras. To hold all the students accountable for paying attention to each video they will have to copy down the ingredients and the steps to prepare each dish. After all the videos/presentations have been seen the students can assemble a recipe book so that they can forever have all the authentic recipes they have learned from their classmates.
I will assess this project based on several criteria. To score a 100 on the project the student will have to meet these requirements:
• Student speaks in the target language and has few to no grammatical errors in video.
• Student does not leave any part of recipe out and steps are clear and easy to follow.
• The video is the appropriate length of time, is easy to see, and is edited with smooth transitions.
I would like to focus more on the fact that the students are coming up with original output more so than the technical aspects of making the video. I think it is important that the video be clear and easy to understand and I will focus on comprehension of the speaker.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Second Life
Sorry y'all I am posting this late, I was at the SCOLT conference this weekend presenting on oral output in the FL classroom... and also I was sick last week and missed our discussion about second life. But I did create an account and make my avatar and spent more time than I wanted playing with how I looked and learning how to fly. I just think second life is very weird, I had never even heard of it until this class. I just don't understand the need for it, and can NOT believe that it is a multi-million dollar industry. I find it ridiculous that someone would spend their money on something so intangible. I really don't see a need to use second life in the classroom, with the excetion of being able to chat in TL. I think blogs, discussion boards, and chat rooms are a much smarted use of technology. I read on Ashley's blog that she feels it could cause a safety problem since the students are able to talk with anyone the want. I agree, it would be hard to monitor and really know who the students are interacting with. That is quite scary and I would not want to be responsible for my students meeting some crazy person that they think is their friend in second life.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Intercultural Communication
I think intercultural communication is a great tool to use in the classroom. It allows students to be exposed to another culture first hand. I think that e-mail exchanges are wonderful to use in the foreign language classroom. They show the students that they are not wasting their time learning another language, that there are people in the world that really use it. Whether using e-mail, AOL, or live chat, I think it is important to give the students very clear instructions and guidelines when they are doing any sort of project using technology. A drawback to using technology is that it is sometimes unreliable, you do not know if it is always going to work properly.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Video Cameras in the FL classroom
Just want to let everyone know that I am posting this on FRIDAY! So, I think that using a video camera in the foreign language classroom would be a fun. The students would have a lot of freedom to be creative with the language. And as we have learned in class last week, it is really not too hard to upload a video and edit it with transitions and what not.
I have had friends who have had to film themselves for their classes with video cameras. They had to come up with a creative skit about anything, it just had to be five minutes long. Some other ideas for activities could be that when learning about weather, the students could film their own weather forecast like they see on the news. Or when learning about clothing, they could film thier own fashion show. They could do documentary videos about a certain cultural topic. Another idea is to work with a native speaker and do a recorded interview. I think there are numerous avenues you could take with a video assignment.
A few drawbacks I can think of would be that not every student has a video camera they could use to film with. And if the school provides them they could have a limited number or not be able to take them off campus which could limit what they could do with it. And it may be possible that they school doesn't even have video cameras.
I have had friends who have had to film themselves for their classes with video cameras. They had to come up with a creative skit about anything, it just had to be five minutes long. Some other ideas for activities could be that when learning about weather, the students could film their own weather forecast like they see on the news. Or when learning about clothing, they could film thier own fashion show. They could do documentary videos about a certain cultural topic. Another idea is to work with a native speaker and do a recorded interview. I think there are numerous avenues you could take with a video assignment.
A few drawbacks I can think of would be that not every student has a video camera they could use to film with. And if the school provides them they could have a limited number or not be able to take them off campus which could limit what they could do with it. And it may be possible that they school doesn't even have video cameras.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Social Bookmarking websites
Well I have been looking around on both sites, citeulike and del.icio.us and am a little confused. It just seems overwhelming for me too look at all the different sites people have posted. I gather that citeulike is a website that is for more academic tags and links and the other site you can tag whatever you want. I understand that these sites provide ways to access information on the same topic easily, which would be an advantage, but that is about all I get. I don't understand how this is any better than using the favorites button when you are at a website you like, it seems like that- but more complicated. It all just seems confusing...
Monday, March 3, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
CMC in the classroom
I think CMC is a great tool to use in the classroom. I would love to be able to use email and live chat and possibly blogs when I state teaching. I think they provide students will the ability to practice communicating in the target language as well as being exposed to another culture.
Friday, February 22, 2008
thoughts about my final project
I am still working on ideas for my final project. One possible question I have come up with is does online chat provide an environment that allows more creativity with the language than face to face conversation. I chose this because I was wondering if students would feel more comfortable typing their conversation, and therefore not feel as nervous about speaking. Is it possible that they are less hindered when it comes to chatting rather than speaking. Also, do they make less errors as time goes on because they can see what they are typing and can self correct before they enter the text. I think that I would find this to be true, the students will be willing to take more risks and play with the language more than they would in a face to face situation.
Another possible topic could deal with e-mail. Not 100% sure what exactly--I would like to explore the advantages of using e-mail to gain insight into another culture. I think pen pals through e-mail are great ideas for foreign language classes. It is a great way to have the students communicate with someone they never would have normally and to use the target language.
Another possible topic could deal with e-mail. Not 100% sure what exactly--I would like to explore the advantages of using e-mail to gain insight into another culture. I think pen pals through e-mail are great ideas for foreign language classes. It is a great way to have the students communicate with someone they never would have normally and to use the target language.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
feeling behind
Hey ya'll! I was out last week with the flu...no fun! So I feel like I missed out on a lot about the blog. I am not sure about some of these terms...I do think that adding sound and video would be neat if I knew how to. (maybe we talked about that last class-- not sure). Will add more to this post later when I know a little more.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
PowerPoint
I am not that skilled yet on the PowerPoint, but I am working on it. I think it would be a great tool in the classroom. In the classroom I could use PowerPoint to make fun slide shows for the students, for instance when teaching reflexive verbs I could make a presentation on my daily routine. I also think they are helpful because you can post them to the internet and students can download all the notes from class.
I do not think that PowerPoint should be used for every class. I think that could get boring for the students. But every now and then it would be fun to incorporate into instruction. It would also be nice to allow the students to make their own presentations for the class.
I do not think that PowerPoint should be used for every class. I think that could get boring for the students. But every now and then it would be fun to incorporate into instruction. It would also be nice to allow the students to make their own presentations for the class.
Friday, February 1, 2008
El Internet
So I have been keeping track of my internet use over the past week.... I have noticed that since I started Student Teaching this semester I do not have as much time to play around on the internet. I used to could spend a lot of time on perezhilton.com just reading all my celebrity gossip but now I am too tired to do anything for fun. I basically just do searches and check my email and my facebook. I just now spent way too much time looking through all my pictures to find one for my blog profile. Here is a breakdown of my time spent on the internet:
Monday: Checked my webmail account for all of 1 minute at 6:30am, looked up plane tickets on cheaptickets.com for 15 minutes at 9:30pm then I used yahoo.com to search for spanish pen pals for 10 minutes.
Tuesday: Sent an e-mail at 9:30pm, checked hotmail.com for 2 minutes then my facebook account for 5 minutes, checked weather.com for 2 minutes, then I searched on yahoo.com for the song that is in the new apple commercial for the thin laptop-5 minutes, then I went to youtube.com to listen to the whole song.
Wednesday: Checked webmail.sc.edu for 1 minute at 5:40am, at 8:30 I checked my hotmail and facebook for 5 minutes, then checked movie times on movies.yahoo.com, then looked at perezhilton.com for 15 minutes, sc.edu to look up courses offered in Maymester- 2 minutes bc nothing was up yet.
Thursday: Checked webmail.sc.edu, hotmail.com, and facebook.com for 3 minutes each, then used yahoo.com to search for lesson plan ideas to teach holidays in Spanish-15 minutes, then searched yahoo for the calendar dates of the US holidays during this year-10 minutes.
Friday: Searched yellowpages.com at 5:45am, then searched another listing on yellowpages.com at 5:30pm both for about 1 minute, then I checked hotmail.com, webmail.sc.edu, and facebook.com for 2 minutes each.
I usually receive about 5 e-mails a day on my hotmail account and 2 on my USC account. I send or receive 1 or 2 messages on facebook each day. I usually only send school related e-mails. I will only check my e-mail in the morning if I know I have some kind of meeting that day to make sure it is not cancelled or anything. Also, before student teaching I used AOL Instant Messenger almost everynight to chat with my family or friends, but now I am too tired to stay up to talk. I think I use the internet mostly to search for things-usually school related, also to keep in touch with friends (facebook). I really don't think I use it that much and when I do it is only for simple tasks.
Monday: Checked my webmail account for all of 1 minute at 6:30am, looked up plane tickets on cheaptickets.com for 15 minutes at 9:30pm then I used yahoo.com to search for spanish pen pals for 10 minutes.
Tuesday: Sent an e-mail at 9:30pm, checked hotmail.com for 2 minutes then my facebook account for 5 minutes, checked weather.com for 2 minutes, then I searched on yahoo.com for the song that is in the new apple commercial for the thin laptop-5 minutes, then I went to youtube.com to listen to the whole song.
Wednesday: Checked webmail.sc.edu for 1 minute at 5:40am, at 8:30 I checked my hotmail and facebook for 5 minutes, then checked movie times on movies.yahoo.com, then looked at perezhilton.com for 15 minutes, sc.edu to look up courses offered in Maymester- 2 minutes bc nothing was up yet.
Thursday: Checked webmail.sc.edu, hotmail.com, and facebook.com for 3 minutes each, then used yahoo.com to search for lesson plan ideas to teach holidays in Spanish-15 minutes, then searched yahoo for the calendar dates of the US holidays during this year-10 minutes.
Friday: Searched yellowpages.com at 5:45am, then searched another listing on yellowpages.com at 5:30pm both for about 1 minute, then I checked hotmail.com, webmail.sc.edu, and facebook.com for 2 minutes each.
I usually receive about 5 e-mails a day on my hotmail account and 2 on my USC account. I send or receive 1 or 2 messages on facebook each day. I usually only send school related e-mails. I will only check my e-mail in the morning if I know I have some kind of meeting that day to make sure it is not cancelled or anything. Also, before student teaching I used AOL Instant Messenger almost everynight to chat with my family or friends, but now I am too tired to stay up to talk. I think I use the internet mostly to search for things-usually school related, also to keep in touch with friends (facebook). I really don't think I use it that much and when I do it is only for simple tasks.
Monday, January 28, 2008
First post EVERRRR!
Well y'all this is my first time blogging. I hope that everyone enjoys my blog and visits often! For those who do not speak Spanish the title of my blog is Paz Afuera, which means Peace Out :) I am currently working on my Master's in Teaching with focus on Secondary Spanish. All in all, I heart espanol!
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