Podcasting in the Spanish classroom

While searching for a good podcast to use in my classroom, I was amazed about the number of podcasting that are on the wide web. I found a podcast that I can use in my classroom toward the end of the year to prepare my students with the listening comprehension part of the proficiency exam.
News in Slow Spanish is a podcast with very basic vocabulary word and Spanish grammar. The hosts of this podcast are a native speaker from Spain and a native speaker from Latin America. They discuss the weekly news, grammar, and expressions, and much more in simplified Spanish at a slow pace so that when students are listening they can understand the words and sentences better.
I could use their podcasts as a listening practice for my students, to increase their comprehension abilities and teach culture connections at the same time. Listening to the podcast will allow my students to hear a different Spanish accent besides my own. I believe that this podcast could have great potential in my Spanish classroom.

ePals with Tokbox

There are many tools we learned in mod 8 that can be useful with the ePals program. However, I am going to talk about how I can use an application like Tokbox with the ePals program.


First I would connect my students with a classroom or another student from a Spanish speaking country through the ePals program. It is important that the students familiarize each other through writing (e-mail) so that they can be comfortable with each other. After they have met each other by e-mail they can then create a video where they can speak to each other in the target language. I think the students would love to speak and at the same time see one another on a live video. Tokbox can provide both live video and communication device. Students can share and compare their fashion or culture with each other and talk about what's in and what's out with the fashion in their country. This is a good way to practice listening and speaking in the target language. I think that if this feature is available for students it will be a great way to communicate in Spanish with other students around the Spanish speaking world.

ePals

I need a lot of time to be able to explore the ePals program. I can not believe all the helpful information and potential this website has to help us teachers to connect our students with other students around the world. One thing I like the most about ePals is that teachers can monitor students e-mail and blogs from both ends. It is important that we teachers create a safe and positive learning environment for all our students.

ePals is a website geared a lot for language learning programs. This website allows teacher to collaborate with other classrooms around the globe, to share projects, to connect with one another and to work toward a common goal. For example, I would use ePals to have my students partner up with another student in Mexico or any other Spanish speaking country, so that they can help each other with their second language. My students will help them with their English and they will help my students with the Spanish language. This infact is a good way to keep my students practicing Spanish outside of the classroom.

ePals is a great program that have a lot of potential in helping teachers to connect their students with other students from around the world. I would like to take more time exploring ePals so that I get more familiarized with all the collabaration they offer.

Video on Spanish vegetable vocabulary words

While searching the web for a good video to use in my Spanish classroom, I came across Spanish vegetable vocabulary. Since my next unit is on food and the market, I can use this video at the end of my unit. I would like to use it to review the vocabulary words and give the students an assessment after they have watched the video. I feel that this video will be useful to reinforce pronunciation and spelling of the vocabulary words as well. Because there is a test at the end of this video, the students will be focused and engaged throughout the video. I really like the concepts and format that the video presents.

Using Flickr in the Foreign Language classroom

Using flickr in my Spanish classroom is going to be fun and exciting for the students. The students can create projects of their favorite pet or animal and share it with the class. Students can also create a poster in which they would have to talk about their favorite animal and present it infront of the class. I could also use pictures as examples of significant cultural customs.

A Motivator by Big Huge Labs

Here is my motivator poster from Big Huge Labs (My Motivational Poster). I love the idea of personalizing my own posters. I like to post a lot of motivational vocabulary all around my classroom. I feel this submersion in the language engages my students on a daily basis without them even realizing it. I like to post posters in Spanish so that my students have a wider understanding of vocabulary words and can see them being used properly. Using Big Huge Labs can help me create these personalized motivational posters; they may even up lift my students’ spirits. Also, having posters in the target language can motivate them to wanting to know what each poster really means in English. I especially like that this will save me money, now I will not need to buy expensive posters.

The use of microblogs for my own professional development

Microblogging in Education

Nik’s Learning Technology Blog

Tips, resources and teaching materials to help EFL and ESL teachers use ICT and new technology.

I like the idea of using the 12 seconds TV, The new website for microbloggers. I can use this site in my classroom to review or teach new vocabulary words in Spanish. I could use it myself or have my students create video vocabulary records using the 12 second clip. Students will work on the pronunciation of the words on flashcards or saying the words in a complete Spanish sentence, recording it for self or classroom evaluation. This is a great tool for the Spanish classroom because this can prepare my students for the listening comprehension and the speaking part of the proficiency exam. The 12 seconds TV website for microblogger can also be helpful for substitute teachers. When I am absent I can create the lesson via the 12 seconds video and explain to the students what I expect them to do on that particular lesson. The foreign language classroom can benefit from this wonderful tool.

Can we use twitter for educational activities?

By Gabriela Grosseck and Carmen Holotescu

Definitively, twittering in the classroom and outside of the classroom is part of learning. As long as the students are aware of the danger of other twitters who are trying to be their age but are not. Students need to know from their teachers and their parents that they can’t be twittering with people who are using inappropriate photographs and foul language. Never then less, there are many benefits about twittering. Students can twitter in my classroom to be able to communicate in Spanish with a pen-pal or with someone in the community who speaks Spanish. Twittering in my classroom can change the classroom dynamics. Instead of the teacher centered, students will have the opportunity to be the one to show the teacher what they are capable of doing. Through twittering I can keep track of the progress my students make on the conversation they carry in the target language with their pen-pal, on a particular topic. I think my students and I are going to enjoy all the good points about twittering.