Podcasting for teaching English.

There are a number of podcast programs for language learning. Unlike TV or radio, podcast has more benefits to use regardless of time and money. In language teaching, teachers can use podcast for students to learn accurate pronunciation of the words and intonation from native speakers which may be the hardest part to learn in any level of students. Besides, students can feel more interested and motivated in learning through podcast since they can listen many times and practice outside of classroom as well. They can save the files to their mp3 devices and listen to it as they listen to music.

To use podcast in my EFL classroom, I explored ESL Pod which has a lot of English language sources from words to American culture. Among them, I chose ESL Podcast 732- Preferring Different work styles. Since it is very short to listen, I do not need to use it as main lesson. After teaching the main lesson about job, I will use this podcast for students to listen and talk about different work style in pairs or in groups. First of all, I would explain some difficult expressions and then, I would ask students to do role-play using the script. Finally, I would ask them to discuss preferring different work styles so that they could express their opinions. In ESL classroom, we can compare work styles in different countries so that students also could broaden cultural views.  




 

Using ePals in L2 classroom

When you first visit ePals website, you can see it, “ePals is the leading provider of safe collaborative technology for schools to connect and learn in a protected, project-based learning network. With classrooms in 200 countries and territories, ePals makes it easy to connect learners locally, nationally or internationally.” Students who are learning foreign language in their countries might have difficulty in practicing the target language with native speakers, and it is hard to focus on learning slang or idioms in classroom with teachers.

Even though the teacher prepares many activities for language learning, if the students do not have a chance to speak in real field – talking with native speakers or using the TL in the country – they may be less motivated in learning the language.

ePals give chance for students not only use their Target Language with native speakers but also experience its culture directly with people in the world.

In my classroom, I would ask students in different countries work collaboratively as team projects. I can give them various cultural topics such as food, leisure, and manner in each country. So, they can compare and find similarities and differences by themselves. this will definitely be really interesting for students to know new culture and to make friends in different countries.

Photoshows for ESL/EFL classroom teaching.

I made this video by using Animoto which I can create a digital story using photos, texts, and music. This video is about American holidays. Especially in EFL class, many students might not be familiar with American culture.

Through this tool, teachers can discuss holidays in the U.S and compare the U.S culture and students’ one. After this activity, teachers can divide students into groups and ask them to choose one country and make video about the culture of the country.

Teaching language using video tool can be really helpful not only learn language communication skills but also understand different culture and broaden their view points. They can also feel interested in learning with pictures and music. Teachers can teach music as well.

Digital Storytelling (2)

Understanding different culture _

This digital storytelling I created is for teaching language in ESL/EFL classroom. Learning language is totally related to learning culture which requires learners to have open-minded. In this sense, I would give them different topics of culture such as clothes, food, etc. And, each group of students can search pictures and videos and make their own digital storytelling. This activity can not only help them to understand other cultures but also broaden their view point.

Digital Storytelling

Digital story telling is also very interesting source for second language teaching. As stated in the article 7 things you should know about Digital Storytelling, “Digital story telling is the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound and video to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component.” As students learn language through many different ways actively, they could be more motivated and attentive in language learning.

It is also mentioned in the article that “creating and watching digital stories has the potential to increase the information literacy of a wide range of students.”

According to the article The Educational Uses of Digital Setting, “the topics that are used in digital storytelling range from personal tales to the recounting of historical events, from exploring life in one’s own community to the search for life in other corners of the universe, and literally, everything in between.” This implies that students can learn a lot of resources practicing through digital storytelling by themselves.

In this sense, in my future EFL/ESL class, I would teach my students to learn different culture and life style comparing between their culture and the American culture. I can divide them into small group, ask them to choose the culture topic and make digital story telling using pictures and videos. After that, each group can share the different resources which make them feel interesting since it is not just reading comprehension or listening without any visual aid.  

Another site Center for Digital Story Telling defines digital story as a short, first person video-narrative created by combining recorded voice, still and moving images, and music or other sounds. Thus, digital storytelling makes language learners feel fun, active and boosting to learn language without thinking ‘studying’, but ‘playing’.

Photo by : Jill Clardy