Podcasting in the Classroom

   

              Podcasting is very important to educators and learners in today's world.  Podcasting is a type of digital media that can be accessed with the use of a computer or any online device.  It is a series of episodes of the radio, a video, and PDF.  For this particular module this week, I have chosen to view the "ESL Pod" Podcast.  In this website, there are many podcasts and transcripts for English as a Second Language learners.  I chose to listen to this particular podcast because I am studying in school to become an English as a Second Language teacher, and this podcast website interests me the most from the others.  I selected the podcast episode, English Cafe 393  from this ESL podcasting website.  During this episode, the speaker discusses about a series on famous American movies.  For a specific example of how he discusses he movie, he would talk about the movie, "The Manchurian Candidate" and described the movie to his listeners as a "thriller".  After saying the word thriller, he would then spell the word slowly for the listener and then describe what the term means.  He did this method of teaching English words and told the story of the movie in great detail.  I thought this method of a lesson would be great for ESL leaners because it is engaging to the listener, new vocabulary learning occurs, and this use of podcasting is a great way to include a digital tool in the classroom. I also think it is interesting and great that this podcast can be accessed through the use of iTunes too.  The use of podcasting is very interesting and important to be as a learner and a future ESL educator.  I will most likely be using podcasting in my future classroom with ESL teaching!

Other Projects Available Through the ePals Program

     
         The ePals site is a great resource for educators and it is a global community where learners connect.  On this site, an educator can find a classroom, join a project, start a project, teaching resources, and learning centers. Some projects that I found interesting though the ePals program, include: Global Citizens, Science, and Smithsonian on ePals.  These projects were interesting to me because I enjoy learning about the world and science, everything that surrounds us in the world we live in today!  With the Global Citizens project, there are a few resources that are helpful to educators to use in the classroom.  These resources under this project include: articles, activities, games and quizzes, videos, discussions, and galleries.  I especially enjoyed viewing the "videos" section because it discusses important global issues or important days that we should know about.  This section really caught my attention.  Also, to use in the classroom with this project, students and educators can collaborate together to play the games on the site and quizzes that have to do with the project of Global Citizens.
       The Science project and Smithsonian on ePals are also very interesting to me because they involve the same resources of: articles, activities, games and quizzes, videos, discussions, and galleries like the other project but in a different way and about a different topics of Science and Smithsonian exhibit information.  I am very interested in learning about Science and History, and I hope to engage my students in many of these subjects' activities in the classroom.  These projects is a great way to use it's resources in the classroom with students.  There is also an online field trip section on the Smithsonian project that is very interesting to view.  There are great engaging activities and important information that helps an educator guide their lessons in a powerful way!

My Photo Story Creation!

     

      I have created a photo story creation about a trip to London, England. Here is a link to my photo story about London, England: My Photo Story I will most likely be using this technology tool of creating a photo story in my classroom when I am an educator.  I would like to use this creative tool because it is fun and interactive for students to create a story and make a movie out of it with words to add to each picture.  In my example of a trip to London, England I chose to use the template of a scrapbook as my movie montage.  I want the audience to feel as if they are taking a tour to London, England for the first time by viewing this video.  I hope my students in my classroom someday will be as creative and can work in groups with their classmates to create stories based on any content material that they are learning during that particular school year/curriculum.  It is a great way to engage students in their learning. This tool would be a fun project for the students to work in the classroom and outside of the classroom!  I think this tool is great for children and educators to use for education.

Gamification is Educational

     
      Before completing this week's module, I was not aware of the term, gamification.  Gamification is a term used where it involves the use of "game design thinking" to the non-game applications online with the use of a computer.  Gamification is Educational and useful to Language LearningThis is a great way to keep our students engaged and have fun with game-like ideas to use in the classroom.  Gamification can also play an important role with language learning and/or second language development.  Keeping the students well-engaged with their learning helps them focus more on the "having fun" then tedious "busy work" with language learning.  It is a way for students to be interactive with learning new terms and become more explorative with game design thinking.  These games are a great way to increase a student's higher-level thinking skills and with their problem solving abilities.  I looked and played two games from Larry Ferlazzo's blog post and list of games.  The two I chose to discuss in my post here are the following games: The Sound Factory and Polleke's Blue Room.  I personally played these games a couple of times and tried to master the first level.  However, I had a little difficulty with mastering the level.  It is very important to also read the instructions carefully before you start playing the game.  I wanted to try two of these games instead of just one, in order to see if there were any differences between the two or similarities.  I found both of them interesting!

       My language learning objectives for these games are very important to discuss in this particular post.  First, I would tell my students to go to the website, and I would provide them with the link to the specific websites of the games.  It is also good to give the student(s) various choices for them to choose from.  Then, I will ask the student to read the instructions to the game before playing the actual game in order to understand what to expect, while they play the game.  It is also important for the students to write down any questions they might have in their class notebook about the game.  It would be great if there was a vocabulary sheet that the student can begin to make as they play the game and then after playing the game, they can look up the word's meaning.  These questions can be brought back to me as the educator to help them with any difficulty they might have with the game.  It is also important to have the student remember what game they play and to have feedback about the game by reflecting about it afterwards.  This reflection can be written or typed after they play the game, and this part of the assignment can help with the second language learning.  It is the most important aspect of this activity for the student to be actively engaged throughout it's entirety.  By playing these games and looking at the specific sentences and words, the student will become actively engaged in the gaming activity.  It is a fun and interactive way to help with the student's learning.

      The role/activity of the educator is to help guide the students' learning in this particular activity.  As the educator, it is important to be available for the students to answer any questions they might have about the activity.  Also, it is important to monitor the activity of the students' work on the games and the internet itself.  Making sure the students are safe with the computer-use and helping them every step of the way is very important with the guidance we provide as the educator.  I would most definitely would like to use a "walk through" step-by-step instructional part of helping the students understand the games and how to play them.  I think using images for the games is important because visual images helps students learn in an engaging and stimulating way.  Images are pleasing to the eye and will capture the students' attention during this activity.  I would like to make sure the objectives are met properly and to the best possible ways they can be met.  It is important to know and comprehend this knowledge of using interactive games educationally with our students.