I found the video to be somewhat ineffective because it didn't really provoke any outstanding thoughts in me. I would've found it more interesting to see the students demonstrating the technology and how they thought it could be used in the classroom. The fact that I am an audio learner may have had some affect on why I didn't find this video and effective tool for me. I watched the video twice to see if I missed something but it really didn't grab my attention. I did find it interesting to recognize how many different avenues of technology can be used in the classroom.
I do think that technology can be a beneficial asset to any classroom no matter what the subject is. in a foreign language classroom I think there are specific technologies that are more effective than others, for example I think that Skype is a fantastic tool an gives students an opportunity for face-to-face interactions with people who use that language in their daily lives, native speakers, or anyone fluent in the language. As I have stated before I have several people that I Skype with to practice languages I consider them like a penpal only it's an audio language pal.
Twitter is technology I actually have not used before and I found this article about Twitter use in intermediate Italian classes to be quite interesting as it spoke about microblogging which is the use of small audio or image clips into conversations about a specific topic. I wonder if this could be effective in bringing grammar into the technology by possibly having students listen to each other or read another's tweet and in turn give and receive feedback.
Overall, I do think the technology is an effective tool to be used in the foreign language classroom. Seeing as we live in a world that is becoming more and more technologically centered daily, I do believe that when teachers are planning their lessons they must take into account the latest technological trends and see if they can be easily applied to their class or lesson.
Kevin, I agree that the video was not necessarily thought-provoking mostly, in my opinion at least, because it didn't seem to be completely authentic. On another note, I am very interested in your personal use of Skype for language learning. Skyping with native speakers is an excellent idea, but to me it always seems like a hassle to find native speakers willing to converse with me and then actually find a time to talk to them. I guess I could skype my Peruvian host family, but I feel as though I would only end up talking to them every once in a while just to catch up. (I would feel sort of strange skyping my host mom twice a week just to say "hi" and talk about our days.) My questions for you, therefore, are 1. Who do you talk to/how did you get in touch with them? 2. How often do you talk to your Skype pen pals?
ReplyDeleteI think that it can be difficult for learners to try and find their own target language skype pals; it is probably more likely that these types of exchanges would have to be facilitated by teachers/universities who could make contact with their equals in the target culture.
DeleteI have a friend in Costa Rica that I skype so that I can practice Spanish, and he can practice English. We do not talk as often as I would like but it is hard to work around schedules. It is hard to find native speakers that you can converse with often. I do not have any friends like this in Spain. Just my host family, but it's the same situation as Tess said. You can not talk to them that often. Having exchanges facilitated by teachers sounds like an awesome opportunity, but would also be very complicated.
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