Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom:

SSAT Annual Languages Conference 2008

As promised, here is the slidecast of the talk I gave on Friday at The SSAT Annual Languages Conference 2008 called New tools, new curriculum, new opportunities. It is intended to encourage colleagues to be bold when faced by the demands of planning for the new KS3 curriculum and offer suggestions on how new technologies such as blogging and podcasting can enhance their pupils' learning.

Using Alec Couros' excellent diagram of what a 'networked teacher' can look like in the 21st century as a guide, I drew on materials already created by different language teachers around the country and proposed how others could follow their example. Whether this happens is another question all together, but I do hope that those who attended do at least now start to take advantage of the power of RSS and use the delivery system to connect with like-minded colleagues around the world.

It was great that none of the sessions on using technology at the conference overlapped too much and in many ways they complimented each other dealing with topics such as using virtual learning environments, interactive self-authoring exercises and moblogging. I was glad to see that both Chris Fuller and Frankie Villatorro were extolling the virtues of the Flip video camera as a quick and easy way of shooting and uploading video to the web. I can see this tool having a similar impact as it has already had in the states.

Another highlight was seeing how Andrew Balaam is using Moodle to record the individual scores that his pupils are achieving when completing Hot Potatoes exercises both in and out of school. This was impressive particularly as both tools are free to use for educational purposes.

Hope you find my presentation as useful and get in touch if you need any help. Don't forget "Be bold!"

Download new_tools_new_curriculum_new_opportunities.mp3

Summary

• Introduction
• seeing Kathy Wicksteed at Language World 2008
• Kathy and Chris Maynard from QCA inviting teachers to be bold when implementing the new KS3 curriculum
• Alec Couros' diagram of the networked teacher
• how language teachers are creating their own Personal Learning Networks (PLN)
• explaining RSS and how to subscribe in Google Reader
• being able to skim the titles of hundreds of blog posts in a matter of minutes
• the value of having a PLN for your continuing professional development (CPD)
• sharing ideas with other teachers from around the world
• finding the RSS feed in your browser
• subscribing to a RSS feed
• celebrating language related events on Flickr
• tagging photos on Flickr so pictures can be shared by different people in the same collection
• embedding Flickr slideshows on to your blog
• uploading videos as well as images to Flickr
• using the video fuction on a still digital camera
• subscribing to the photostreams of other language teachers
• sharing your favourite websites online with social bookmarking
• using email to find out about the latest updates as an alternative to RSS
• adding a del.icio.us tag roll to your blog
• the benefits of being part of an online community (fora/Ning networks)
• having an open or closed network
• micro-blogging with Twitter
• the power of asking questions on Twitter
• sharing not just taking
• using Twitter for language learning purposes
• downloading YouTube clips and embedding them into PowerPoint
• creating customised RSS feeds to search for clips by username and tag
• using Skype to make free calls to other users or inexpensive calls to landlines over the internet
• recording and editing Skype calls from a USB stick
• bringing authentic voices into the classroom
• using SkypeOut credit to ring landlines for a few pence
• videoconferencing with Flashmeeting
• using wikis for creative writing, collaborative projects and for hosting multimedia resources
• reasons to start blogging and ideas on promoting your blog
• ideas to start moblogging
• the educational value of podcasting
• CILT video case studies on the effective use of ICT
• creating the Nodehill french Grammar Podcasts and putting them on iTunes
• using podcasting for assessment for learning purposes and distance learning
• using podcasting for global citizenship and eTwinning
• how to morph your voice in Audacity
• some cool tools for schools (Wordle, Mobus, Tumblr+Kwout, VoiceThread, eBook to Images, Go! Animate)
• further reading
• a few final thoughts

Show Notes

Kathy Wicksteed at Language World 2008

the new KS3 curriculum

Typical teacher network v the networked teacher

RSS in Plain English

Google Reader in Plain English

Easy ways into RSS

IE7

FireFox

Flickr

European Day of Languages 2008 on Flickr

The Isle of Wight Conference 2007 on Flickr

SSAT Annual Languages Conference 2007 on Flickr

FlickrSLiDR

Video on Flickr

Video VoxPop at Language World 2008 on Flickr

Lisa Stevens' puppets set (lisibo)

Alex Blagona's EDL and LAFTA set (Blaggers)

del.icio.us

My del.icio.us tags

Isabelle Jones' del.icio.us tags

Diigo

Isabelle Jones on Diigo

del.icio.us tag roll

Flashmeeting

MFLresources

TESConnect with RSS

Linguanet Forum

Ning networking

Talkabout Primary MFL Ning

Jo Rhys-Jones

The Isle of Wight Conference Ning

Twitter

Creating your personal learning network with Twitter

Tweeting from Leamington Spa

Asking about PLNs using your PLN (murcha, spookingdorf, nwinton, cwebbtech, digtalmaverick, paulawhite, tricias, mberry, lisibo

Tweeting about my presentation for the SSAT Conference

Interview with Steve Collis

Quel temps fait-il à Foxford?

Embedding YouTube and Google videos into PowerPoint

Keepvid

Download video clips with Real Player 11

Search YouTube via username with RSS

Subscribe to YouTube video tags via RSS

MFL Karaoke and Role Play Raps

Welcome to Gorseville

GCSE French for Dummies

AuthorStream

Podcast your PowerPoints

Podcasters power up in class

Skype

Recording Skype calls with Pamela

Record and Edit Skype calls from a USB stick

Bucharest eTwinning Conference 2008 and using a USB modem abroad

Audacity Anytime Anyplace Anywhere

Interview with Kathleen Holton

Podcasting and Language Skills

SkypeOut

eTwinning ambassador John Warwick and his email contact

My Flashmeetings

EdTechRoundup

Flashmeeting project for Primary Languages

OZ/NZ Educators

Passionate about podcasting

Live Blogging with Cover It Live

OZ/NZ Educators Ning

Making Use of Blogging, Podcasting and Wikis in the MFL Classroom

Interview with Chris Fuller

Peter Morris and his CILT Wikimania project

CILT Cymru Wetpaint wiki

Making Languages Count: CILT Cymru DVD

MFL Show and Tell 08 wiki

Shozu

Using SkypeOut credit with Utterli

Interview with Chris Holbrook

Liz Kolb at K12 Online

USB modem

Asus Eee PC

MSI Wind

The educational value of podcasting presentation at Jersey e-Learning Conference

Podcasting in Plain English

CILT video case studies on effective use of ICT

Nodehill French Grammar Podcasts

Nodehill French Grammar Podcasts go from strength to strength

Nodehill French Grammar Podcasts now on iTunes

Interview with Adam Sutcliffe

Rate My Mate's Podcast

Chinese Day at Nodehill

Interview with Joe Molloy

Morph your voice in Audacity

Morph your Voki in Audacity

Spread the IOW Conference Wordle

Blog on a mobile

Tumblr + Kwout for simple tumbleblogging

Learning languages with VoiceThread

Mobile revision with eBook to images

Go! Animate your lessons

Posts on blogging, podcasting, moblogging and mobile phones

Book now for The Isle of Wight Conference 2008

Big Book Monster Issuu

Gemma a primary school English teacher in Spain has created this wonderful digital big book using the free tool Issuu. It showcases pupils' descriptions of different monsters and could easily be adapted to practise other languages.

I can see this working a treat on an interactive whiteboard. Just click on the page to zoom in.

What do you think? Monster idea or what!

Book now for The Isle of Wight Conference!

The news you've all been waiting for! Registration for the Isle of Wight Conference 2008 is finally underway. Thanks to everyone for your patience and support. As you will see from the brochure below, this year's event has greatly expanded and now offers two whole days of outstanding CPD delivered by top speakers from around the UK.

Be amazed by the range and quality of sessions and consider for a moment the networking opportunities of spending just a couple of days on the Isle of Wight in October for your future career.

Hope the brochure provides you with all the information you need and a special thank you must go to my wife for all her support in helping me put this and previous programmes together. I couldn't have done it without you, dear! 

Now spread the word!

Download Isle_of_Wight_Conference_Brochure_2008.pdf

Download isle_of_wight_conference_travel_&_accommodation_2008.pdf

Download booking_form_08.doc

CILT video case studies now live!

Today the five video case studies from the CILT project on effective use ICT went live on the Languages-ICT website. Themes include podcasting, whiteboards, digital storytelling, self-authoring interactive exercises and word-processing and are definitely worth checking out.

You may recognise some long-haired loon banging on about the educational value of podcasting. Wonder who that could be!

Isle of Wight Conference 2007 - The film!

One of the great things about the summer break is you have time to catch up on jobs you've been meaning to do all year. A classic example for me, would be finally sorting out all the video footage and stills that were taken at last year's Isle of Wight Conference by the Nodehill film crew Richard Lashley and Robin Chubb and make them into a film. Well thanks to Richard's and Robin's editing skills and my directorial input, we now have the finished results!

Hope you enjoy it and it encourages you to come to this year's event on 25th-26th October described by one of the speakers Jo Rhys-Jones as Fantastic peer-to-peer CPD

John Bald who wrote about last year's conference in The Guardian has also suggested in light of the key points identified to improve provision and outcomes in the recent Ofsted summary of language inspections from 2002-07 that:

"A start would be for each school concerned about languages to send a teacher to the two-day conference on the Isle of Wight this October, with a clear brief of what to look for."

The MFLE and British Council have kindly advertised the event too as well as bloggers, Lisa Stevens and Paul Harrington.

Booking will be starting very soon so hopefully this will whet your appetite for starters.

The Isle of Wight Conference 2008

As reported by John Bald in The Guardian in January, The Isle of Wight Conference 2008 takes place this year on 25th-26th October at Nodehill Middle School in Newport and will cost £100 to attend. As in previous years, the event will feature a host of practical sessions delivered by inspirational speakers from around the UK on topics such as:

• Mobile Phones
• Wikis
• Primary Languages
• Ning networking
• Songs
• Virtual Learning Environments
• Digital Storytelling
• Games based learning
• Gender differences
• Videoconferencing
• eTwinning
• Digital Voice Recorders
• One Stop Animation
• PowerPoint
• Interactive Whiteboards and Voting Systems
• Blogging and Podcasting
• Assessment for Learning
• New KS3 curriculum
• Web 2.0 tools
• vodcasting
• eCreativity

or as Wordle would say:

Speakers include:

• Sharon Tonner - ICT specialist, High School of Dundee
• Jo Rhys-Jones - AST in MFL, Kingswear Primary School
• Lisa Stevens - Spanish Teacher and eTwinning ambassador, Whitehouse Common Primary School,
• Carole Nicoll - Language Factory
• Drew Buddie - ICT coordinator, Royal Masonic School for Girls and eTwinning ambassador
• Nick Mair - HoD in MFL, Dulwich College
• John Warwick - Deputy Head, St Luke's School and eTwinning ambassador
• Kathleen Holton - HoD in MFL, Argoed High School
• Mark Pentleton - Radio Lingua Network
• Lesley Welsh – AST in MFL, English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College and SSAT languages lead practitioner coordinator
• Chris Fuller - Spanish teacher, Edgehill College and SSAT languages lead practitioner 
• Sharon Balch - French teacher, Swanmore Middle School
• Doug Dickinson - Independent ICT consultant
• Kathy Wicksteed - Languages advisor for new KS3 curriculum
• Adam Sutcliffe - MFL teacher, The Gordon Schools and Glow Champion
• Lesley Haggar-Vaughan, Shireland CLC manager
• Julie Adoch, HoD in MFL, Heathfield Foundation Technology College and her students

There will also be promotional sessions run by our sponsors Podium, Televic, Sanako, ConnectED and Babelzone and other publishers such as Heinemann, Oxford University Press and Espresso will have stands in the exhibition.

A free MFL Show and Tell session will take place in The Function Room of The Bargeman's Rest on Saturday 25th October and like last year, delegates will be able to sign up on the conference wiki if they would like to speak or just watch.

In the next month or so, I will publish a delegate pack including details of how to book, session titles, biographies, travel arrangements, where to stay etc on my blog which will give you plenty of time to persuade your school to let you come to this exciting opportunity for continuing professional development!

Here are some pictures and quotes from 2007 to whet your appetite:

Taken sooo much away from today. Thanks a million! Lisette Begue – Sneyd Community School)

Excellent. Well done to everyone who took part and looking forward to next year (John Bald – Education Guardian)

Thank you for running this inspirational event (Annalise Adam – Gregg School)

Excellent. Well done and a big thank you to the speakers. Really inspiring (Virginie Rayner – Wheatley Park School)

You surpassed last year. Fantastic! (Volker Green – The City Academy)

A great conference that has given me some great practical ideas to use in my teaching. Thank you. (Tamsin Cobden – Solent Middle School)

So see you in October and spread the word.

Making an IWB for €50

Pupils from Inver National School in Ireland have been using a Wiimote to create an interactive whiteboard for €50. Watch this clip, to find out how they did it.

Doug Belshaw has also been experimenting at home with the potential of the Wiimote. See it in action here.

Having MyStudio for Breakfast

As part of Jess McCulloch's IWB challenge last week, Helena Butterfield experimented with a MyStudio quiz for her Yr 8 pupils on breakfast items. Click on the image above and check it out now.

Sketchcasting in languages

Sketchcast is a handy tool for recording anything you draw or type on your screen as a movie file you can embed on your blog. Being able to add a personalised voiceover is a real bonus and makes Sketchcast an exciting resource for distance learning. Above is an example by Rich Ziade where he explains the main features of the application.

Language teachers Rob Courtney, Marie-France Perkins, Pascal Sagnier and Andrew Jeppesen have been experimenting with Sketchcast for presenting vocabulary and practising phonics. Have a look at their work and think how you could use the tool yourself.

Here are some suggestions to help get you started:

• Create a set of images and text which you rub out in turn for presenting new language or for telling a story
• Make line drawings or annotations using colours which refer to a gender code such as blue for masculine nouns, pink for feminine nouns and green for plural nouns
• Practice sound-word links (see this SlideShare example by Steph Hopkins for inspiration)
• Create a step by step grammar explanation

Any other ideas?

Quentin Young on how to encourage more MFL teachers to use technology in class

Yesterday morning I had an interesting Skype chat with Canadian born MFL PGCE student Quentin Young from the University of Bangor who contacted me last week looking for a quote or two to finish off his special study on using ICT in the languages classroom.

An edtech enthusiast, Quentin is keen to persuade more of his colleagues to take advantage of the possible learning and motivational benefits of using ICT in the classroom and is frustrated by the negative attitudes of some towards new technologies such as blogs and podcasts.

Unsurprisingly, I was sympathetic to many of his views and was more than happy to answer the questions he had prepared for his assignment. To make life easier, I suggested we record the conversation so that he could play sections back to the MFL department he is currently working with as well as make it available here so others could contribute too.

Questions included:

• What got you interested in using ICT in the MFL classroom?
• What technologies have you found to be the most effective for pupil engagement, motivation and learning?
• What technologies best support assessment for learning?
• What are the best ways of bringing new technologies into the classroom?

Download Interview_with_Quentin_Young.mp3

Summary

• coming from a language teacher background
• comparing the use of technology amongst British and Canadian teachers
• looking for the best ways of integrating ICT into the MFL classroom
• the importance of MFL teachers sharing good practice and networking
• getting started with using technology (word-processing, websites, self-authoring, interactive activities, PowerPoint, Web 2.0)
• coping with the 'knowledge gap' and persuading others of the real benefits of using distance learning tools as blogs and podcasts
• overcoming negative attitudes from other colleagues concerned with security issues and internet safety
• Virtual learning environments v teacher/departmental blogs (Who takes control?)
• suggesting running a blog for a trial basis and the importance of establishing blog rules
• ideas on ways of engaging pupils effectively with technology
• balancing rigorous practice (teacher-centred) v creative (pupil centred) technology
• teaching pupils on how to use technology responsibly so they are engaged, motivated and independent in their learning (3 prong process)
• using the internet to bring in different voices into the classroom and seeing the reaction
• using audio and video to break down the classroom walls in the 21st century and share similar interests and differences
• embedding technology into the scheme of work to support assessment for learning (blogs, digital voice recorders, Vokis)
• nurturing the school community to leave comments on a blog
• taking the time to learn how to use new technologies to save time in the future
• having your pupils' resources at your fingertips
• pupils being motivated to leave Voki comments from home
• suggesting that more conference talks are recorded so colleagues can catch up with sessions they miss
• raising awareness of good practice and making it easier for less techno-savvy teachers to find information
• being patient and not expecting an overnight grassroots revolution from individual teachers
• the need for national strategies and governmental support
• living in exciting times for education
• ideas on introducing technologies into a languages department
• not being too ambitious to begin with and sticking to the 'no more than two blog posts rule a week'
• building on the willingness of colleagues to share their resources
• starting off with a blog as a way of publishing your pupils' work
• giving your pupils the incentive to access resources
• gauging the reaction of your pupils and involving them in how the blog evolves
• dealing with issues of the digital divide and overcoming barriers sensitively
• recommending software to get started
• comparing different blogging platforms
• creating multiple student blogs with Edublogs and moderating through a mother blog
• recommending ways to get started with podcasting and playing around with audio
• installing the Lame encoder and exporting as mp3
• adding podsafe music
• using The Levelator to balance your podcast's volume levels
• seeing Podium at The Education Show
• explaining the background of the interview and the reason for getting in contact 
• writing a special study on issues surrounding 'getting ICT into the Modern Language classroom' for the PGCE
• wanting to play snippets of the interview to departmental colleagues
• encouraging Quentin to share more of his ideas to 'spread the gospel'
• the importance of meeting colleagues face to face
• writing future articles
• being involved with two video case studies
• meeting and greeting at Language World

Show Notes

Linguascope

PowerPoint

Spellmaster

Hot Potatoes

TaskMagic

Alex Blagona on moblogging in St Etienne

Jess McCulloch and her Friday VoxPop on Dropping Rubbish

Moderating comments

Two Stars and a Wish

Kathleen Holton on getting the most out of digital voice recorders

Argoed in Compact Schools Project DVD

Voki

SSAT Lead Practitioner work

Chris Fuller

MFLresources

Teacher Resource Exchange

TES Resource Bank

SlideShare and AuthorStream

Blogger

WordPress

Edublogs

TypePad

creating multiple student blogs with Edublogs

Kim Cofino

21classes

Audacity

Assignment: Podcast

Installing the LAME encoder  and exporting as mp3

Podsafe music

Del.icio.us

The Levelator

Podium at The Education Show

iTunes

CILT

CILT Video Case Study

French.ie workshop 2008

Language World 2008