Technology Enhanced Vocabulary Learning

leVocab from leVocab on Vimeo.

leVocab is a new web and mobile-web based application for helping French, German and Spanish language students widen their vocabulary, learn noun genders and practice pronunciation.

A colour and sound system has been developed by leVocab to help learners to remember noun genders. Blue for masculine and pink for feminine. Also, both a masculine voice and a feminine voice are used to improve association.

leVocab is free for teachers and tutors who can use it in the classroom to practise with students. Full access for students/parents is very reasonably priced at €4.99 for a one year subscription - this gives access to over 1,500 nouns in each of three languages - French, German & Spanish.

According to Páraic Slattery, leVocab's co-founder,

“Learning genders has been a perennial problem for language students and leVocab goes a long way towards addressing this. Using leVocab, students can now widen their vocabulary and learn the genders at the same time.”

Launched in November of this year, leVocab is well worth a try!!!

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ICT in the Foreign Language Classsroom

Fortbildung Online are currently offering a series of free webinars about ICT in the foreign language classsroom.

The one hour webinars are conducted mainly through German, although there are also some French and English sessions scheduled. The series will runs through April, May and June.

Coming up this Thursday (18/2013 - 19:00h - 20:30h CET), Shona Whyte (Université de Nice) will be speaking on "Interactive technologies for classroom language teaching: iTILT and the IWB". Shona will be covering:

• the lack of training & materials to use Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) effectively for language teaching
• presentation of resources from a recent European project on IWBs in language teaching [http://itilt.eu]
• discussion of materials, activities, and examples of language teaching with the IWB
• discussion of alternative technological solutions for those without access to an IWB

To register simply send an email to JWagner@lpm.uni-sb.de
To participate: Click on the access link: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/shona/

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The rest of the schedule is as follows:

22. 04. 2013 - 19:00h - 20:30h
Elke Lackner
Durch die Cloud zum kreativen Endprodukt
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/wordclouds/

29. 04. 2013 - 19:00h - 20:00h
Pilar Munuera
Les Perles du TICE - remue-méninges sur le FLE [Scoop.it]
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/pilar/

06. 05. 2013 - 19:00h - 20:30h
Marie-Hélène Fasquel
Projet e-Twinning et création de livres électroniques
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/fasquel/

10. 06. 2013: 19:00h - 20:30h
Jean-Michel Ducrot
"Insuf-FLE" - Le blog phare du FLE
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/insuffle/

06. 06. 2013 - 19:00h - 20:30h
Uwe Klemm
Einsatzmöglichkeiten von Moodle im Fremdsprachenunterricht
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/moodleimfsu/

17. 06. 2013 - 19:00h - 20:30h
Stephan Rinke
Online Textarbeit mit dem Etherpad/Edupad
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/etherpad/

10. 10. 2013 - 19:00h - 20:30h
Stephan Rinke
Moodle muß Spaß machen
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/moodlespass/

14. 11. 2013 - 19:00h - 20:30h
Andrew Pickles
Task-based learning
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/taskbased/

21. 11. 2013 - 19:00h - 20:30h
Manfred Overmann
Le site portail du professeur de FLE
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/overmann/

02. 10. 2013 - 19:00h - 20:30h
Mélanie Auriel
Des applis iPad pour une pédagogie "classe inversée"
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/applis/

16. 01. 2014 - 19:00h - 20:30h
Heike Kolacki
"Kooperative Lernformen" im Französischunterricht
Zusammenarbeit mit Cornelsen
Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/kolacki/

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Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling
by
Renke Samusch, Dominik Baumecker and Moritz Zockler
Web 2.0 im Fremdsprachenunterricht

Renke, Dominik and Moritz, who are all teacher trainees, have written a very interesting and detailed article which explores the use of comic and video creation software for teaching storytelling in a motivating and engaging way.

In the article, they mention, in particular, Bitstrips, xtranormal, pixton and strip generator but they also provide a link to Alan Levines wiki resource, acknolowdging that many more comic and video creation tools exis.

Renke, Dominik and Moritz believe that students become more engaged in writing process when they realise that they can use these tools to bring their own stories alive by adding a visual element through pictures and video. Being able to use the tools provides a great way of encouraging student creativity. The choice of images/characters and how they are put together is limited only by the student's imagination.

Also, the student's final production can then form the basis of a verbal presentation to the rest of the class, which helps in practicing and developing spoken language skills. Obvioulsy this can also lead to great opportunities for team work where groups of students are tasked with producing their story and presentation.

As a bonus, Renke, Dominik and Moritz point out that organisational skills and multimedia skills are also learnt during the process, even though they are not the main focus of the task.

Renke, Dominik and Moritz feel that younger students may need more support in using such tools and that, in such cases, it "is crucial" that their teachers are competent in using the tools before introducing the exercise. This is often not the case for older students where they are very quick to pick up new programs and may even teach their teachers a thing or two!

As well as students creating work, teachers can also prepare stories in advance thus controlling "the quality of the language" to be used. This can be good for practicing reading skills while still allowing students to add their own creativity to the final visualization. However, Renke, Dominik and Moritz warn that the topic should be chosen carefully so that it will inspire students to produce their comic/video.

Teacher prepared comics/videos could also be used as the initial prompt for creative writing, maybe based around the current vocabulary that is being studied. The students use this work as the basis for their story and presentation. Renke, Dominik and Moritz believe this is a great way for promoting story telling and can be used with all age groups. Through these tasks, students are introduced to the idea of building plots and using dialogue appropriately. Encouraging students to role play their final presentations is another way of engaging and motivating the students in the writing process.

Renke, Dominik and Moritz also provide great examples of where these tools can be used for more than just storyteling such as for learning:

• grammar
• vocabulary
• cultural studies
• history etc

Having explored the many differnent ways in which these tools can be used, Renke, Dominik and Moritz conclude by pointing out the main considerations to be taken into account when deciding to use them:

• time constraints - for learning and using the tools
• overusing the tools - trying to use all the features
• overexposure to the tools - reducing student motivation

I like thte way Renke, Dominik and Moritz have concentrated, throughout their article, on the pedagogical aspects of using such tools rather than simply exploring the tools themselves! A comprehensive and inspiring read with lots of practical examples to try out and experiment with.

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You can buy a copy of the book online directly from the publisher (Verlag Werner Hülsbusch) or if you have any queries email Verlag Werner Hülsbusch at vertrieb@vwh-verlag.de

***************************** The release of 'Web 2.0 im Fremdsprachenunterricht' is accompanied by a series of free webinars where the authors will present and discuss their articles. Information about these online meetings, which will be held in the presenter's mother tongue, can be found at Fremdsprachenunterricht 2.0 You can register for any of the webinars at Fortbildung Online. Recordings of the webinars will also be published on the LPM's website. *****************************

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Using Web 2.0 as a Source for Material

Using Web 2.0 as a Source for Material
by Andrew Pickles
Web 2.0 im Fremdsprachenunterricht

In his article, Andrew concentrates on three useful resource sites - Googlefight, Pinterest and Quora which he believes allow for "greater student self-direction" in completing tasks.

Googlefight, which is a new one to me, allows you to compare two words or phrases and find the one with the hightest number of results from a google search.

As the search was being carried out a little animation of two boxers fighting each other was played and while Andrew doesn't specifically mention its effect, I found watching it surprisingly amusing and rather addictive!! I wanted to do more and more searches........

On first appearances Googlefight seems to have limited use but as Andrew explains it can be useful for:

• introducing a new theme or subject
• finding out which phrases are more commonly used
• expanding vocabulary

Indeed, as Andrew concludes, the main benefit can be found through building new language around real and interesting discussions of the results obtained - arguments as to why one result is higher or if the result matched initial predictions. In my test search "dublin usa" narrowly beat "dublin ireland" which, to me anyway, was very surprising and would be worthy of further discussion!!!

The second site, Pinterest works essentially as an online pinboard allowing you to keep interesting webpages around a topic in one accessible location. Being a Web 2.0 social networking site it also allows you to share your pinboard as well as view other pinboards and add comments. You can also follow and be followed by other users. Sign up is straighforward and no longer limited to the invitation only mode that Andrew mentions.

Andrew provides interesting ideas for using Pinterest with students including encouraging them to:

• follow others who are interested in the same areas and then discuss what they have read in class
• add comments to the pinboard articles that they read
• create their own pinboards and let other classmates add pins to their boards - very useful for groupwork
• upload work from their own computers. Although restricted to image format only, screenshots of written/text work can be used

All public shared pinboards can be accessed by anyone and Andrew's concern about this is valid, although as far as I am concerned anything you put up on the Internet, particulary on social networking sites, is potentially viewable by anyone and should be treated as such regardless of privacy options offered. That said, Pinterest does allow users to have 3 'secret' pinboards.

Quora is a place where you can ask and answer questions. Andrew gives a very good detailed account of how you sign up and get started. As with other social networking sites you can follow other usres or individual topics. Adding your own questions or answers to existing questions is straight forward. Also, the more followers you have or the more interesting the question the more likely you are to receive answers.

Andrew sees values in encouraging his students to "discuss and decide on which people and topics they wish to follow" and then reveiwing their choices at a later date - both of which provide a "wealth of useful language" for the teacher to use.

Andrew has also promoted discussion among his students around the results of prepared questions/topics and by getting students to evaluate the accuracy of answers given. Encouraging students to ask and answer questions among themselves provides practice for using and re-using the language and vocabulary they are learning.  Indeed, Andrew also feels that teachers would find Quora useful for gathering opinions from others or finding an answers to questions that they did not know.

Examing the structue of the questions (ie grammar) is also very useful, although it is not clear as to what way students evaluate the source of the question - for example was a question in english written by an english speaker or someone using it as a second language . For me, students picking up bad grammar or struggling with the complexity of the language used in questions could be an obstacle to using the site. Also, Andrew does not mention if he ever came accross inappropriate questions and/or answers and how these are dealt with.


In a way Quora acts like a textbook except that:

• students are not restricted to the topics presented in th textbook but are free to include their own interests, which proves highly motivational - a sort of 'living textbook'
• there seems to be very little check on validity of answers. However, in using Quora, Andrew is not so worried about the 'correctness' of answers given but is more interested in the way that it encourages the use of language.

Andrew will be conducitng a webinar on his topic on 14th January 2013.

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You can buy a copy of the book online directly from the publisher (Verlag Werner Hülsbusch) or if you have any queries email Verlag Werner Hülsbusch at vertrieb@vwh-verlag.de

***************************** The release of 'Web 2.0 im Fremdsprachenunterricht' is accompanied by a series of free webinars where the authors will present and discuss their articles. Information about these online meetings, which will be held in the presenter's mother tongue, can be found at Fremdsprachenunterricht 2.0 You can register for any of the webinars at Fortbildung Online. Recordings of the webinars will also be published on the LPM's website. *****************************

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Set of Useful eLearning Tools

The Learning Tools from UBC Arts ISIT are a set of useful eLearning tools that can be used to enhance teaching, while also providing a different learning approach for your students.

Although, several of the tools are specifically geared towards language learners, most of them can be used for any subject area.

The tools include:

• Language Pronunciation Tool - a revolutionary linguistics toolkit designed to enhance a student's comprehension and pronunciation of a particular language. 
• Vocabulary Memorization Platform - helps students memorize the spelling of words by playing a series of games. 
• Handwriting Tool Handwriting Tool - a language learning tool that helps students learn to write and use Asian characters.
• Timeline Tool - a web- based tool that allows you to construct an interactive timeline with audio and visual effects.
• Multimedia Learning Object Authoring Tool - enables you to easily combine video, audio, images and texts into one synchronized learning object.
• Image Annotation Tool - allows you to upload images and quickly create text boxes referring to parts of a diagram, painting, or photo.
• Image Zoom Tool - allows you to upload large size images and quickly author a presentation with zooming functionalities and text explanation of the image. 
• Interactive Video/Transcript Viewer - an application providing a more functional way to view video archives and preserve oral narrative, especially for academic purposes.
• Pachyderm Presentation to VUE Converter - extracts concept mapping information from a Pachyderm presentation.
  
• FileShare - for sharing large files (up to 2GB per file size) with others.

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Free Online Training for Language Teachers

Jürgen Wagner, from the E-Learning department of the Landesinstitut für Pädagogik und Medien [LPM] in Saarbrücken, Germany is hosting a series of free webinars for language teachers during September.

To participate simply send an email to Jurgen, in advance of the webinar, using the following address: JWagner*AT*lpm.uni-sb.de

Webinar 1: How to use Spotlight Magazine in the EFL classroom
by Inez Sharp, editor-in-chief of Spotlight-magazine, München

• Date: Thursday 9th September 2010
• Time: 5pm - 6.30pm (GMT)
• Details: http://lpmfs.lpm.uni-sb.de/el/spotlight.htm
• Venue: http://breeze.lpm.uni-sb.de/inezsharp

 Update - 8/10/2010 Webinar postponed. To be rescheduled

Webinar 2: Google Docs in the Foreign Language Classroom
by Patricia Donaghy, Inchicore College of Further Education in Dublin, Ireland

• Date: Thursday 23rd September 2010
• Time: 5.30pm - 7.00pm (GMT)
• Details: http://lpmfs.lpm.uni-sb.de/el/googledocs.htm
• Venue: http://breeze.lpm.uni-sb.de/googledocs

This is my webinar and it is aimed at teachers who have not used google docs before. During the webinar participants will have an opportunity to experience working on shared documents.

 Update - 8/10/2010 Webinar recording.





Webinar 3: A first hand guided tour of the BBC's and British Council's joint website http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/
by Rob Lewis, TeachingEnglish website manager, Warszaw

• Date: Thursday 30th September 2010
• Time: 5.30pm - 7.00pm (GMT)
• Details: http://lpmfs.lpm.uni-sb.de/el/bbcbritishcouncil.htm
• Venue: http://breeze.lpm.uni-sb.de/teachingenglish

 Update - 8/10/2010 Webinar recording.

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Language Learning with bab.la

bab.la is a portal where "language lovers can meet and exchange their ideas and learn languages from each other". A real community effort.

bab.la provides dictionaries for translation between english and spanish, german, chinese, french, portuguese, russian, turkish. There is also a german to french dictionary.

The dictionary provides direct translations for words, both in text and audio (in english), and also provides suggested similar expressions.

As a user you can add your own translation suggestions or verify the suggestions of other users as well as making quizzes. The quizzes can even be embedded into websites as shown below.

First read about bab.la on Richard's post.

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Technorati Tags: babla, language learning, translation, quiz

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Language Learning as Gaeilge

A new Irish language learning tool hit the Web this week, which is really cool as we are in the middle of "Seachtain na Gaeilge 2008".

Talk Irish is a new Irish language learning project, aimed at adults, which will contain many resources enabling you to learn Irish online, anytime, anywhere.

Talk Irish is the brain child of Michelle Gallen.

Free Irish word-a-day emails, podcasts and flashcards are all on offer. The daily emails will include an Irish word, example sentences, and a link to a free podcast and flashcard.

Talk Irish also contains a page detailing links to some excellent resources.

And later this year Talk Irish will be launching a free audio dictionary and even "more great free learning resources – including games and quizzes".

It's never been easier to learn the cúpla focal !!

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Technorati Tags: irish language, talk irish

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Language Learning Assistant

Lingro provides an online environment "that allows anyone learning a language to quickly look up and learn the vocabulary most important to them". English, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish and German are all catered for on Lingro.

As well as providing a normal dictionary, Lingro also provides a web viewer and a file viewer.

The web viewer opens a website in the Lingro viewer and allows you to select individual words for translation.

On selection, a translation box appears. This may be left open or closed before the next word is selected.

The file viewer translates files that are uploaded from your computer (txt, doc and pdf formats).

Lingro also provides study tools in the form of word lists and flash card games.

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Technorati Tags: flash, language, lingro, translation

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Free Online Language Learning

Bonjour, Buon Giorno, Dia Duit, Guten Tag, Hola!

Want to learn a new language? This might just be the time. Mango Languages, an online language learning system, is currently undergoing Beta testing and is offering free registration.

Mango Languages offers very useful features including, among others, colour coded translations, audio from native speakers, unlimited repitition (both individual words and full sentences), phonetics and memory building exercises.  Both male and female voices are used for the audio. A forum for each language has also been provided - due to popular demand from current users.

Mango Languages is another site found via Zaid's blog. So all I can say is Gracias, Merci, Grazie, Obrigado, Danke, Go raibh míle maith agat, Спасибо, Ευχαριστώ!

Also found Livemocha (thanks to Nancy McKeand) -  another site undergoing Beta testing!

Livemocha provides an online language-learning community as well as structured lessons and promises access to a team of passionate language tutors who are "available 5 days per week to chat one-on-one or to answer questions".

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Technorati Tags: audio, forum, livemocha, mango languages, online learning

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