Storybird

Below is the link to a story I created in class today. It's for digital storytelling, however the site doesn't seem to allow for audio storytelling, only through pictures and words. The stories are created by selecting different pieces of art that are made by the same artist, and then creating the story based on the art. It was actually very fun and something I would definitely try to use in class.

http://storybird.com/books/bear-and-sunny-story-bird/

Week 2 Reflection

A sentence from this week's reading that stuck out to me was "Instructors should determine the use of the software or hardware for language learning and not vice versa." (pp. 31). It struck me because I think thus far I have been doing the opposite - trying to match the language practice to the few applications that I know about. Thinking this way, though, causes an evaluation of language forms against the applications and shifts the class objectives from tasks like learning the present perfect to tasks like learning how to use Moodle. It seems very easy for computers to become the center of learning, instead of language. The sentence reminded me that although technology can add a lot to a class, it should not be the driving force behind lesson planning. I have to admit, part of me is reluctant to incorporate technology into class because it seems that young people today are already so dependent on it and spend more time communicating via computers than face to face. A classroom is one of the few places where young people go and are expected to speak and listen and not press buttons. But perhaps it's time I let that idea go for the sake of keeping up with the times and not seeming old fashioned.

It was also helpful to read and learn in class about evaluating software. It put things into perspective. I have very little idea of the technology that's available and it seems overwhelming to try and choose an application, so it was nice to learn some guidelines. Lastly, despite reading through the copyright information and understanding that legal precautions need to be taken when copying information written by another entity, I think most teachers are too busy to spend extra time ensuring their legality. It was informative to read about the different laws, but when teachers are covering 30 hours a week and are desperate for material, the last thing on their minds is probably the Fair Use Guidelines.     

Website Evaluation - Listening

For our homework this week, I chose the StoryCorps website to evaluate using a selection of the listening criteria that Marianna, Guanya, Hongbo, and I came up with. StoryCorps’ mission is, as the website states, “to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.” The website features hundreds of stories from all over America and also includes an education section with a few lesson plans and activities. It is not focused in any way on second language learning. The criteria I’ve chosen to use for evaluating the website as an ESL listening resource include: 1. Listening content – length, topic, and difficulty; 2. Ability to pause, rewind, slow down, replay, download and edit the audio; 3. Teacher work required to create materials; and 4. Availability of transcripts or other visuals.

1.     Listening content – stories told by the people who experienced them.

a.     Length – most stories are short, from 1 – 5 minutes, which is a good length for beginning and intermediate students because it requires less cognitive demand to stay focused for shorter periods of time

b.    Topic – the topics are usually very personal to the person telling the story and are often related to interactions with other people, most painful memories, or happiest moments. There is a way to categorize the topics on the website, which is helpful for teachers looking for a certain subject. Some examples of topics include Military Voices, Friendship, Discovery, and Alzheimer’s. There is also a story search function.

c.     Difficulty – the recordings are professionally recorded and are of high quality. Because they are authentic and from all over America, the speakers have a vast range of accents, speeds, nativeness, language use, and speaking mannerisms. This degree of authenticity may make the StoryCorps too difficult for beginning and intermediate students, and perhaps even some advanced listeners.  

2.     Ability to pause, rewind, slow down, replay, download and edit the audio – When you click on the Listen button by each story, you can see the length of the story and also have the option to pause or stop the audio. However, there are no options for slowing down, rewinding, or downloading and editing the content. You can play the story as many times as you like, though. Without the ability to slow the authentic speech down, rewind, or manipulate the audio, beginning and intermediate listeners may understand very little of what they are hearing and may need to listen several times.

3.     Teacher work required to create materials. Depending on the level of the students, teachers would need to create supplemental materials to guide and facilitate comprehension. Even for advanced students, teachers would likely need to create vocabulary glosses for slang or region-specific words. The work required to make the recordings understandable for beginners would likely deem the site unsuitable. Additionally, the topics are not terribly broad and may not match the content of the rest of the class. As mentioned before, the site provides an educational section, but the materials are not aimed at second language learners and are not story specific.

4.     Availability of transcripts or other visuals. No transcripts could be found on the site. However, there is a section called Animated Shorts, which contains popular stories that have been animated. Visuals may help learners to understand what is being spoken about.

Overall, the StoryCorps website is a great website, but for very proficient speakers. Based on the above evaluation, I would recommend StoryCorps to ESL teachers who have very advanced students in a class that is focusing on American culture or the American experience. Listening to and reflecting on a story could add a nice weekly side activity that could compliment larger units on aspects of American life. I would not recommend the site to teachers of beginning or intermediate learners, or to teachers who have a specific subject matter outside of American culture.

Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll check out StoryCorps and listen to a few voices from around the country.    

               

First Blog Entry

Erin Aldrich. I'm a second year MA TESL student on the teaching track and will be graduating this Spring.

Despite having taught ESL for the past few years, I haven't used much technology or computer applications in the classroom. In fact, I have used none beyond Powerpoint for presentations and Word for lesson planning. That's the main reason why I am interested in this class - to learn about all the technologies that I have not yet utilized for teaching. I feel a little embarrassed that I have not taken more of an initiative in catching up with the technological side of teaching, as technology appeals to many students and younger learners seem to expect a high level of technology in their classrooms and lives. I have heard about and had brief introductions to several different language applications, but have never spent more than a few minutes brushing their surfaces.

Therefore, my goals for this class are to get comfortable with actually using computer technologies to help my students learn. I'd like to learn about teaching students through computers as well as improving my own lessons using technology. I would also like to start using corpora and concordance lines in my lesson plans, as well as creating activities in which students use sites like COCA or Words and Phrases to interact with real-world language use and enhance their learning.

As I have so little experience in this field, I do not yet know what kinds of applications I am interested in, beyond corpora sites and software. I am also curious about the usefulness of having students create their own websites and blogs, and the effectiveness of computer-driven learning vs. teacher-driven learning. For now, I'm looking forward to learning the basics of using computer applications in the classroom and knowing which technological resources to turn to in order to best help my students.  

First CALL Class Post!

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