More from CLEAR-Use Viewpoint to easily create short videos

A second free application from the Rich Internet Applications suite of programs from the Center for Language Education And Research of Michigan State University is called Viewpoint. Viewpoint allows you to create simple videos (using your own webcam and microphone) completely from within your web browser. The completed video is saved in your CLEAR account and accessible via a URL or is associated with an "embed code" that you can place on your website, blog or wiki. You can also upload an existing video from YouTube, TeacherTube or from your own computer and it will be converted to a format that can be posted on a website.

There doesn't seem to be any editing capabilities once the video is made so have a good idea of what you want to say before you start recording! If you make a mistake, start the recording over.

Here's an example!



Click here for a quick video message that I posted on my class web page for the students to view when they get back to class.
If you already have an account at CLEAR or the Rich Internet Applications website, you don't need to create a new account.

TESOL report! Highlight - FREE AUDIO DROP BOXES

The great new website that I learned about at TESOL 2009 in Denver that I've already started to use (I created a practice speaking exercise for my students to use starting Monday.) is the "Rich Internet Applications for Language Learning" website created and developed by the Center for Language Education And Research at Michigan State University. Dennie Hoopingarner presented the free tools that (among other things) give anyone with a website the ability to add an audio recording tool to the website. It works for websites, blogs, wikis, and any other type of web page that you can edit. The first one that I've tried out is called an "audio drop box." Patterned after an assignment "drop box" that a professor might place outside an office (the students leave papers and assignments there when the professor isn't in), the audio drop box allows a student to click on a "record" button in order to record themselves responding to a question. The completed recording is automatically sent to the correct file at the instructor's account page. The next time the instructor logs in, he or she can click on the list of files submitted to hear each student's recording. It's fast, easy to figure out, and it's free. The audio drop box feature is only one of the tools available.

You can see a sample drop box at the bottom of this post! Click to type your name, and then click on "allow" when the website asks for permission to access your microphone and speakers. Click on the record button to start recording and then on the stop button to stop! There's also a play button if you want to hear what you recorded. If you click on the record button again, you will record over any previous recording. When you're satisfied with your recording, click on the green check mark to submit your recording. The next time I log into my account, I'll see your recording. For your test recording, tell me how you think you could use an "audio drop box" with your students.





You can see my first exercise (recording three types of sentences about some photos from the TESOL conference) at the new "Speaking Practice Page" at my class wiki. The top half of the page has screen shots of the steps necessary to record your voice. Scroll down the page for the actual assignment. You can submit the assignment if you want! Just include your affiliation when you type your name in the Audio Drop Box so I get an idea of who is trying it out...

Check out the audio drop box and the other internet-based language practice tools at the Rich Internet Applications for Language Learning web site. You'll be glad you did!

CUE 2009

I just returned from the CUE (Computer Using Educators) conference this past weekend, and as usual, picked up several good ideas that I can start using right away in the classroom. My hands-on workshop didn't go as well as I would have liked because of the difference between the version of Microsoft Office that I use in the classroom (2003) and the version of Microsoft Office that was loaded on the computers at the conference (2007). Frankly, I was caught by surprise. It hadn't even occurred to me to ask this year, since last year the computers had 2003. I guess the equipment provider upgraded all of the software in the meantime. I stumbled around and had to ask participants how to do some things. It was not as professional as I would have liked. Fortunately, most understood the problem and appreciated the projects I showed them anyway. Part of the paradox of the situation is, of course, that even if I had demonstrated the projects using the latest version of PowerPoint or Excel or whatever, most of the teachers present would still have to go back to classrooms where they would have to do the projects in 2003 anyway! From now on, I will have to see what version of Office will be on the "lab" computers, and prepare dual handouts. One handout for the version of Office in the lab, and one handout for what the teachers will see when the get back to their classroom.

I should also note, that it is fairly obvious (when done side by side in both versions of Office) that some procedures are NOT easier to do in 2007 and many of the icons and arrangement of the menu items are NOT transparent to the user...

You can always learn something new!

This past Friday, Paul Yung, a colleague in the Division of Adult and Career Education of LAUSD, co-presented with me in one of the monthly Technology Colloquium workshops that I organize and present. He presented techniques for using do-it-yourself multimedia for the first hour and I completed the session with simple ways to get your students to start using the Internet as part of the ESL curriculum. I'm pleased to report that the session went well and the participants were pleased by both presentations. The purpose of this post, however, is more to reflect on the fact that sometimes it takes the enthusiasm of another individual for a process or technique that causes you to re-evaluate your own processes and decide to try something new.

Basically, Paul's main point was that the Internet can provide easy access to a huge resource of images and since using images has always been a large component of language instruction, ESL teachers can access images on the Internet and easily integrate them into very simple PowerPoint presentations that can then be used as grammar or language practice in the classroom if the classroom is equipped with a projection system (LCD or TV) that enables the entire class to view the presentation. He compared it to the "old days" when he used to hold up pictures in front of the classroom that he had collected from magazines.

Paul's second point was that an ESL teacher can easily enliven or provide additional practice to the typical conversation practice found in typical textbooks. You know the type. A basic conversation is presented and the students, working in pairs, are supposed to replace various items or vocabulary words with alternate items or words. For example, the first student would say something like "I need to buy a book." The second student would ask "How much is the book?" there would be a response "It's $14.50" and finally a comment like "That's not too expensive!" Following the conversation there would be a picture of a "car" and a price tag "$24,500" and the comment "That's expensive!" The students are supposed to practice the first conversation, then replace all of the appropriate vocabulary with the "new" vocabulary. Paul's idea is to create PowerPoint slides containing all of the new information in image and text format. One one slide, he would insert an image of the new object, the price tag, and the final comment. As he goes through the slides, the students generate the new conversations using the image and text as cues.

Now all of this might not necessarily be a new idea (I used to use clipart in the same way) but his enthusiasm for the process and the demonstration about how easy it is to prepare the slides "on the fly" made me resolve to try it out at the first opportunity. That opportunity turned out to be the very next day when the unit I was teaching to my new Beginning High class turned out to be descriptions of people. The standard conversation was in the unit with the typical suggested replacement text. I instructed the students to practice the conversations in partners per typical practice. But this time, while they were working, I used Google image search to find online images with the key vocabulary featured in the unit (tall, short, heavy, slim etc.) and created a simple PowerPoint in the 10 or 15 minutes the students were practicing. When I felt that they had practiced on their own for a sufficient time, I turned their attention to the new presentation and went through the slides as a group. It was a tremendous success! I was able to find an assortment of images with enough contrasts that the students were able to practice most if not all of the adjectives or expressions introduced in the chapter, enthusiasm and participation were high, and it was clear that viewing and describing images of real people provided a realistic context for further practice. Best of all, I can continue to work on the presentation to add even more images and I'll be able to use it again at a click of a button.

Finally, the process is simple enough that students could do it on their own as a project demonstrating what they've learned. Click here to see the presentation! (it's the link labeled PowerPoint Slides in the section labeled Simple Ways to Start Using Web-Based Instruction

Developments over at Pageflakes

Many of you know that I use Pageflakes for my class homepage on all of my classroom computers. Whenever any of my students open a browser on any of the classroom computers, the homepage is a Pageflakes "Pagecast" where they get daily assignments and links to the websites I want them to use regularly.

Pageflakes co-founder Ole Brandenburg informs me that they're working on an adult content filter that would be the default setting for any Pagecast which would prevent content that would be considered inappropriate in most educational settings from appearing in any pageflake. I think that would be a great improvement and increase the use of Pageflakes by teachers and schools.

The link above for Pageflakes takes you to the teacher version of Pageflakes (there's also a general version) which already has one feature that makes it more appropriate for an educational setting: a teacher version only links to other teacher versions, so the possibility of being exposed to inappropriate content inadvertently is already lessened.

What's Up Tigerlilly for ESL students-Bombay TV

Here's a great idea by way of Larry Ferlazzo's "Best Ways" series! Bombay TV is a site where your students(and you too!) can have great fun with English. Basically, you caption real movie clips from Indian movies with your own comic lines. It's great fun for native and non-native speakers alike! Click on the link to see a sample:

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/index.php?module=see&lang=uk&code=6a1cb268756d2c45c8d11cf7626fa1e5

A small success!

So I've been putting the daily assignment on the class web page for at least one semester now and the students have gotten into the habit of coming into the classroom and going straight to the computers to look at it. Usually they copy the assignment directly into their notebooks and start working on their own as others arrive. I also have numerous activities posted that can be done at any time. It has always been my intention that students be able to access and do the activities from home if they have an Internet connection as a means of keeping students involved in classroom activities even when they're absent. This morning, Alejandro arrived and handed me two assignments that he did from home, even though he has been absent for 3 days. Not only had he printed out all of the daily assignments, he had printed out the actual tasks and made his own "worksheets" to fill in. Needless to say, I was very pleased to see that at least one of my students made use of the opportunity to access the class from home even though he was not feeling well.

Congratulations to Larry Ferlazzo!

Larry Ferlazzo just won a nice award for his work with using technology in the classroom and for the benefit of the community. He has been awarded the grand prize for 2007 in the International Reading Association's Presidential Award for Reading and Technology. Information on the award is here http://www.reading.org/association/awards/teachers_presidential.html I visit his blog most often. When I visit Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day for teaching ELL, ESL & EFL, I never fail to find something that could be put to use in the classroom. Today, for me, it's the Community Walk website which overlays a walk that you create onto a google map (I think the new term is "mashup"). The nifty feature is that you can add and save your own landmarks and descriptions (including photos) as you create your walk. Many beginning and intermediate level classes and textbooks feature lessons on giving directions. With Community Walk you can assign students to create a map with photos and descriptions of the neighborhood. As an example, here's a map I created in a few minutes using photos I already had on my computer: http://www.communitywalk.com/pacoima/ca/visiting_pacoima/map/153149, and here's a map I chose at random http://www.communitywalk.com/walking_westford.

By creating their own maps, students practice writing skills. By looking at maps other people have created, they practice reading skills. By giving the students a task, they can practice oral skills as they discuss a walk that they are viewing. (Give them a worksheet and ask questions about the locations on the map, e.g. When was the new library in Pacoima dedicated and who spoke at the ceremony? or have them describe their own walk to their classmates in an oral presentation accompanied by the map projected behind them.) More adventurous teachers (and students) could probably link their walk to a podcast so viewers of the map could listen to a description of each stop along the way...

For a wealth of good ideas, it never hurts to visit Larry's Websites of the Day...